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 St230L68-59
1/3@TN Martin222L65-61
1/8Tennessee Tech313W71-61
1/10Tennessee St195W74-70
1/13W Illinois364W57-55
1/15@Ark Little Rock308L74-63
1/22@Southern Indiana339W59-51
1/24@Morehead St275L73-68
1/29TN Martin222L76-68
1/31SE Missouri St230L77-59
2/5@Tennessee St195L77-68
2/7@Tennessee Tech313W60-54
2/10@W Illinois364L79-70
2/14Ark Little Rock308W78-72
2/19Morehead St275L73-70
2/21Southern Indiana339L70-68
2/26@Lindenwood266W71-67
2/28@SIUE257L77-50
3/4@SIUE257W77-71
3/5(N)TN Martin222L66-63