The Akron Zips, fresh off their upset run through the 2022 Mid-American Conference men’s basketball tournament on Saturday night, got their NCAA Tournament assignment on Sunday afternoon, drawing the PAC-12’s UCLA Bruins in the first round of the East Region bracket.
The Zips will be the 13-seed in the East bracket, drawing UCLA as the four-seed. The 4/13 game is one of the more upset-prone matchups, with upsets by the lower seed occurring approximately 21 percent of the time, with 31 such upsets all-time since the field expanded in 1985.
Last season, fellow MAC member Ohio joined that number of triumphant 13-seeds, upsetting then-defending champion Virginia by a final score of 62-58.