NCAA Tournament March Madness

#358 W Illinois

Bubble Watch | Bracketology

Chat with the Bracketologist | How does this work?


Projection: need to automatically qualify

Western Illinois' résumé is shaped by a punishing nonconference trip that featured at Iowa, at Drake, at Radford and at CS Bakersfield and those road defeats, capped by the lopsided loss at Drake, have left little in the way of quality wins. The most encouraging signs came in the tighter outings at Cal Baptist and the home game with North Dakota, which showed the team can compete but did not produce a statement victory to flip the narrative. Consistent struggles away from home and a lack of wins against notable opponents have done the most damage to their profile. The league calendar still hands them chances to alter that picture with home dates such as Eastern Illinois and a sequence of OVC matchups that include Lindenwood, SIUE and Tennessee Tech as well as road tests at North Dakota and Morehead State, and converting any of those into road or neutral-site victories would materially change how the resume reads.

Date Opponent Ranking Outcome
11/3@Radford276L80-75
11/7@Iowa31L77-58
11/11@CS Bakersfield289L74-58
11/14@Cal Baptist136L69-59
11/21Coastal Car242L84-64
11/23North Dakota336L78-69
12/2@Drake121L108-57
12/13@North Dakota33628%
12/18@Lindenwood25314%
12/22SIUE19821%
1/1@TN Martin22711%
1/3@SE Missouri St24313%
1/8Tennessee St24529%
1/10Tennessee Tech30240%
1/13@E Illinois32926%
1/17@Ark Little Rock30721%
1/22@Morehead St32323%
1/24@Southern Indiana30321%
1/29SE Missouri St24328%
1/31TN Martin22726%
2/5@Tennessee Tech30220%
2/7@Tennessee St24513%
2/10E Illinois32947%
2/12Ark Little Rock30740%
2/19Southern Indiana30340%
2/21Morehead St32343%
2/26@SIUE1989%
2/28Lindenwood25330%