UCLA Men's Basketball Earns No. 4 Seed in NCAA Tournament, Will Face Akron in First Round

The Bruins and Zips, who have never played each other before, will face off in Portland on Thursday.

The Bruins may not have earned an automatic bid to the Big Dance, but they still punched their ticket to Portland regardless.

UCLA men's basketball (26-7, 15-5 Pac-12) is officially headed to the NCAA tournament, earning the No. 4 seed in the East Region and a first-round matchup against No. 13 seed Akron. It is the highest seed the Bruins have held since 2017, when they were a No. 3 seed.

This will be only the third time in the past 14 seasons in which UCLA has entered March Madness as a top-four seed.

UCLA finished No. 8 in the KenPom, No. 10 in the NET, No. 10 in the BPI, No. 10 in the RPI and No. 10 in the BARTHAG. The only metric that had the Bruins in line for a No. 4 seed was strength of record, in which they ranked No. 15.

The trip to Portland keeps UCLA on the West Coast for its first and second round games, but it will be a much longer trip than a spot in the San Diego pod would have been. No. 3 seed Texas Tech wound up taking that spot because of geography rules.

Should UCLA make the Sweet 16 or Elite Eight, it will be playing those games in Philadelphia. If they had wound up in the West Region, the Bruins could have gone to San Francisco for those games.

Also in the East Region are No. 1 seed Baylor, No. 2 seed Kentucky and No. 3 seed Purdue. Should the favorites win the the first round, UCLA will face No. 5 seed St. Mary's in the second round, with Indiana and Wyoming also standing a chance as No. 12 seeds that have to face off in the First Four first.

Akron was the MAC tournament champion, beating Kent State on Saturday night. The Zips went 24-9 and have won eight games in a row.

While Akron has four players averaging double figures, they do not have a player taller than 6-foot-8 averaging more than 13 minutes a game.

Despite the lack of length, the Zips' defense has been their calling card this year, boasting the best scoring defense in the MAC and No. 24 scoring defense in the nation. Adjusted for pace, though, their defense ranks No. 166 in the country.

Akron is No. 127 in the NET and went 0-2 against Quad 1 teams this season.

UCLA has never played Akron before.

The Bruins and Zips will face off on Thursday in the Moda Center.

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