NCAA Tournament March Madness

#320 E Illinois

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Projection: need to automatically qualify

Eastern Illinois' only realistic path to the NCAA is through an Ohio Valley title because the nonconference slate provides no resume-defining victory while a string of brutal road losses at the likes of Kentucky, Purdue, Iowa State and Notre Dame overwhelms the modest home wins over SIUE, Tennessee Tech and Tennessee State. The defense has at times been respectable but the offense has failed to score consistently against power-conference opponents and the few meaningful positives come from a gritty road win at Southern Indiana and a narrow victory over Western Illinois. Upcoming home dates with Morehead State and Southern Indiana give the Panthers a chance to pad their ledger but the remaining road trips to Lindenwood and SIUE offer little in the way of a signature scalp and carry the danger of more damaging defeats. Without a marquee nonconference win and with multiple bad losses away from home, the committee would view an automatic conference berth as the most realistic way for this team to make the field.

Date Opponent Ranking Outcome
11/4@Valparaiso154L66-63
11/7Nicholls St253W65-57
11/11@Notre Dame80L78-58
11/14@Kentucky27L99-53
11/25@Cent Arkansas163L81-60
11/28@Purdue8L109-62
12/6Lindenwood252L82-74
12/10E Kentucky271L68-59
12/14@Iowa St7L78-53
12/18SIUE235W76-72
1/1@SE Missouri St231L68-59
1/3@TN Martin198L65-61
1/8Tennessee Tech318W71-61
1/10Tennessee St260W74-70
1/13W Illinois361W57-55
1/15@Ark Little Rock307L74-63
1/22@Southern Indiana342W59-51
1/24@Morehead St288L73-68
1/29TN Martin198L76-68
1/31SE Missouri St231L77-59
2/5@Tennessee St260L77-68
2/7@Tennessee Tech318W60-54
2/10@W Illinois361L79-70
2/14Ark Little Rock307W78-72
2/19Morehead St28851%
2/21Southern Indiana34271%
2/26@Lindenwood25223%
2/28@SIUE23521%