NCAA Tournament March Madness

#263 W Michigan

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Projection: need to automatically qualify

Western Michigan’s body of work reads like a team that can handle modest opposition at home but struggles to carry that play onto the road, which explains its current standing. The season’s highs are clear in comfortable wins over Coastal Carolina, Purdue Fort Wayne, Mount St. Mary’s and Southern Indiana that showed the team can finish games against lesser opponents, while the lows — the humbling road blowouts at Ohio State and Valparaiso and the setbacks at Campbell and South Dakota — expose a recurring vulnerability in hostile environments and against stronger teams. The nonconference slate produced few signature victories, so the conference slate will be decisive; upcoming home dates with Buffalo, UMass and Eastern Michigan are chances to build a clearer résumé and tough trips to Toledo, Akron and Kent are the kind of road wins that would erase damage if they can pull them off.

Date Opponent Ranking Outcome
11/3Coastal Car242W76-71
11/9@Campbell215L91-82
11/12PFW257W83-71
11/16@South Dakota278L83-78
11/20@Ohio St36L91-58
11/23Mt St Mary's308W83-60
11/29@Valparaiso196L84-55
12/3Southern Indiana303W88-74
12/6@SIUE19828%
12/14@Iowa312%
12/20Buffalo20851%
12/30@Toledo16122%
1/6@Miami OH13516%
1/10E Michigan18547%
1/13Massachusetts18747%
1/17@Akron605%
1/20Bowling Green11226%
1/24C Michigan30069%
1/27@N Illinois32151%
2/3@Ohio21230%
2/11Toledo16142%
2/14@E Michigan18526%
2/17Akron6013%
2/21@C Michigan30047%
2/24@Bowling Green11212%
2/28Miami OH13533%
3/3Ball St32474%
3/6@Kent12314%