NCAA Tournament March Madness

#301 N Illinois

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Projection: need to automatically qualify

Northern Illinois' standing hinges on the contrast between a handful of respectable results and a long string of damaging defeats, so the clearest path to the NCAA tournament runs through winning the MAC tournament. The resume's highlights are a road victory at Loyola‑Chicago, a tight home decision over Central Michigan and home wins against Western Michigan and ULM that show the Huskies can close games. Those positives are overwhelmed by one-sided road losses at Wisconsin and Grand Canyon, a surprising home loss to Lindenwood and a string of road setbacks that leave Northern Illinois without a signature neutral or top-level road win. The remainder of the schedule offers chances to repair the profile with trips to Miami Ohio, Buffalo and Akron and home opportunities against Bowling Green and Ball State, but most of those results must swing the right way to erase earlier damage. Committees prize quality wins away from home and view lopsided losses harshly, which is why Northern Illinois is essentially playing for the automatic bid.

Date Opponent Ranking Outcome
11/3ULM360W102-82
11/7@Wisconsin41L97-72
11/10@Grand Canyon75L88-59
11/18@Northern Iowa112L70-57
11/21@Loyola-Chicago318W76-59
11/25@Austin Peay163L77-59
12/2Lindenwood242L99-64
12/6@Bradley144L84-55
12/13@Elon175L85-79
12/20C Michigan302W74-73
12/31Buffalo169L81-67
1/3@Kent139L77-73
1/6Toledo156L75-61
1/13@E Michigan223L77-59
1/17Massachusetts179W70-68
1/20@Ohio235L80-77
1/24@Ball St310L58-53
1/27W Michigan266W85-65
1/31@Miami OH886%
2/7@Georgia St27032%
2/11Bowling Green12824%
2/14@C Michigan30239%
2/17@Buffalo16916%
2/21Ohio23545%
2/24@Toledo15614%
2/28Ball St31063%
3/3Kent13927%
3/6@Akron533%