NCAA Tournament March Madness

#324 E Illinois

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Projection: need to automatically qualify

Eastern Illinois’ résumé is short on signature quality and long on damaging defeats, so their ticket to the big dance depends on winning the Ohio Valley crown. The Panthers have picked up wins over the likes of Nicholls St, SIUE, Tennessee Tech and Tennessee St, including a neutral victory over SIUE and road trips that yielded wins at Southern Indiana and Lindenwood, but those bright spots are overwhelmed by an unforgiving nonconference slate that featured heavy road losses at Purdue, Kentucky, Iowa St and Notre Dame. Conference play has been uneven with harmful losses at SE Missouri St, Cent Arkansas, Morehead St and TN Martin as well as home setbacks that sap the resume further. With the best wins lacking pedigree and the worst defeats coming away from elite opponents, the only clear pathway into the field runs through an Ohio Valley tournament title.

Date Opponent Ranking Outcome
11/4@Valparaiso157L66-63
11/7Nicholls St239W65-57
11/11@Notre Dame87L78-58
11/14@Kentucky26L99-53
11/25@Cent Arkansas150L81-60
11/28@Purdue7L109-62
12/6Lindenwood266L82-74
12/10E Kentucky294L68-59
12/14@Iowa St8L78-53
12/18SIUE257W76-72
1/1@SE Missouri St227L68-59
1/3@TN Martin223L65-61
1/8Tennessee Tech313W71-61
1/10Tennessee St196W74-70
1/13W Illinois364W57-55
1/15@Ark Little Rock309L74-63
1/22@Southern Indiana340W59-51
1/24@Morehead St281L73-68
1/29TN Martin223L76-68
1/31SE Missouri St227L77-59
2/5@Tennessee St196L77-68
2/7@Tennessee Tech313W60-54
2/10@W Illinois364L79-70
2/14Ark Little Rock309W78-72
2/19Morehead St281L73-70
2/21Southern Indiana340L70-68
2/26@Lindenwood266W71-67
2/28@SIUE257L77-50
3/4@SIUE257W77-71
3/5(N)TN Martin223L66-63