NCAA Tournament March Madness

#322 C Michigan

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Projection: need to automatically qualify

The projection follows from a resume that offers a couple of credible flashes but is dominated by damaging road and neutral defeats, so the safest path to the NCAA field for Central Michigan is to win the MAC tournament. Their best moments are a solid home victory over Appalachian State and a road win at Kent that show they can compete when things break right, but those highlights are overwhelmed by lopsided losses at St. Louis and Wisconsin and a bruising outing at Marquette that speak to a team that struggles against higher-level competition away from home. Tight losses at Northern Illinois and to Ball State at home underline a season of missed opportunities to build a resume with quality road or neutral wins, and their remaining slate — including home dates with Northern Illinois and Western Michigan and trips to Louisiana and Buffalo as well as a meeting with Akron — gives them places to rebuild momentum but also a narrow margin for error, which is why automatic qualification through the conference tournament is the most realistic route.

Date Opponent Ranking Outcome
11/3Appalachian St218W82-66
11/8@Bradley137L85-54
11/13(N)South Alabama208L66-64
11/14(N)Coppin St364W82-59
11/20N Kentucky170L90-66
11/22@Marquette122L85-71
12/2@Loyola-Chicago309L83-72
12/7@St Louis29L107-65
12/13@Stony Brook258L78-55
12/20@N Illinois315L74-73
12/22@Wisconsin40L88-61
12/30Ohio221L80-64
1/3Toledo161L78-75
1/6@Akron60L82-69
1/10Kent147W87-85
1/13@Miami OH89L100-61
1/20Ball St313L68-67
1/24@W Michigan25322%
1/27E Michigan18831%
1/31Bowling Green11216%
2/3@Massachusetts18314%
2/7@Louisiana33040%
2/14N Illinois31558%
2/17@E Michigan18814%
2/21W Michigan25342%
2/24@Kent1479%
2/28@Buffalo18414%
3/3Akron607%
3/6@Ball St31335%