NCAA Tournament March Madness

#309 E Illinois

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Projection: need to automatically qualify

Eastern Illinois looks like a team that will have to take the automatic path because its few résumé highlights come against conference peers and lower-tier nonconference foes while its ledger is scarred by lopsided road defeats at Kentucky, Purdue, Iowa State and Notre Dame and a heavy loss at Central Arkansas. The program’s best moments — wins over Nicholls State, SIUE, Tennessee Tech and a road victory at Southern Indiana — show it can handle familiar league opposition, but those are outweighed by damaging losses away from home and a narrow defeat at Valparaiso that failed to offset the blowouts. The remainder of the schedule contains multiple chances to rebuild credibility, with trips to Tennessee State and Tennessee Tech and matchups against W Illinois, Arkansas Little Rock, Morehead State and Southern Indiana offering clear opportunities to demonstrate improvement. Unless E Illinois reverses its road form and strings together wins in those spots, the most realistic route to the NCAA field runs through winning the conference tournament.

Date Opponent Ranking Outcome
11/4@Valparaiso154L66-63
11/7Nicholls St247W65-57
11/11@Notre Dame79L78-58
11/14@Kentucky32L99-53
11/25@Cent Arkansas184L81-60
11/28@Purdue9L109-62
12/6Lindenwood242L82-74
12/10E Kentucky262L68-59
12/14@Iowa St5L78-53
12/18SIUE258W76-72
1/1@SE Missouri St251L68-59
1/3@TN Martin211L65-61
1/8Tennessee Tech335W71-61
1/10Tennessee St239W74-70
1/13W Illinois357W57-55
1/15@Ark Little Rock291L74-63
1/22@Southern Indiana324W59-51
1/24@Morehead St299L73-68
1/29TN Martin21139%
1/31SE Missouri St25147%
2/5@Tennessee St23924%
2/7@Tennessee Tech33547%
2/10@W Illinois35762%
2/14Ark Little Rock29156%
2/19Morehead St29959%
2/21Southern Indiana32465%
2/26@Lindenwood24225%
2/28@SIUE25828%