No. 17 Arizona Wildcats vs. No. 3 Arizona State Sun Devils (copy)

Arizona sophomore Emmanuel Akot informed coach Sean Miller after the Wildcats' Bay Area road trip last week that he was leaving the program.

 Mike Christy / Arizona Daily Star

I have seen a lot of questions on Twitter about why Emmanuel Akot decided to leave the Wildcats now, and it's hard to say for sure.

Akot hasn't been available for comment and UA coach Sean Miller declined to take questions Tuesday that weren't about his remaining players.

But here's what we know and can reasonably speculate about the move:Β 

β€” Akot was a starter, but his role was declining. He played only 13 minutes at Stanford on Jan. 9, and none at all in the final 7:47 while Ira Lee was the hero down the stretch. On Friday, UA coach Sean Miller spoke of wanting to play Lee more often, especially alongside starter Chase Jeter.

β€”Β Akot reclassified to skip his senior season, throwing him into an even more difficult situation as a collegian. At age 18, he had to compete for time against last season's veteran and deep roster, averaging 10.9 minutes a game. He suffered tendinitis in his knee and Miller indicated he needed to learn how to take care of it better.

β€” Akot also never developed into the defensive stopper Miller said he could be as a freshman. In addition, this season his rebounding average of 2.8 was the least of UA's frontcourt players, with Akot collecting just 3.3 percent of offensive rebounding opportunities and 13.6 percent of defensive opportunities.

β€” Because he's forfeiting the rest of his eligibility this season β€” and not immediately leaving for another school β€” Akot's decision to quit now suggests either he was unhappy with his day-to-day existence on the team or that he and/or those around him believed there wasn't much point in him continuing to play.

If Akot had tried to play next season, he'd have to transfer immediately to a school that could enroll him for the spring semester and then he'd be eligible after the 2019 fall semester. But that would leave him only about two-thirds of next season to play and all of 2020-21.

β€” However, Akot's decision to stay at UA this semester maximizes his athletic and academic potential. Miller said he's in good academic standing, so if Akot leaves while eligible that both eases his academic transition and saves UA a demerit in the Academic Progress Rating.

After transferring in the spring, Akot will have to sit out all of next season, barring a successful appeal, but he'll get next season to develop behind the scenes under another staff, while he'll have two full seasons of eligibility to play in 2020-21 and 2021-22.

Plus, since Akot reclassified, sitting out a redshirt season actually only puts him back in his original class. He'll turn 20 in March and be 21 when his redshirt junior season begins.

Photos: Emmanuel Akot's career as an Arizona Wildcat

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Contact sports reporter Bruce Pascoe at 573-4146 or bpascoe@tucson.com. On Twitter @brucepascoe