NCAA Tournament March Madness

#187 Tennessee St

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Projected seed: 15 (automatic qualifier)

Tennessee State’s profile reads like a club that dominates its league schedule but lacks the résumé-changing victories that get at-large attention, and that is exactly why a low seed tied to an automatic bid is the reasonable expectation. Their best moments came in true road environments, most notably a win at UNLV and gritty victories at UNC Asheville and Chattanooga that prove the team can win away from home, and their neutral-site wins over TN Martin and Morehead State show they can handle the pressure of tournament-style settings. Their worst moments are hard to overlook because they include a blowout at Tennessee and an embarrassing trip to Alabama A&M, and road setbacks at Belmont and WKU expose an inconsistency that committees penalize. The nonconference slate produced solid mid-major scalps but no marquee home-and-away wins to erase those bad losses, so the path forward is straightforward: a conference-tournament run and more road or neutral wins over league rivals like Morehead State, Tennessee Tech, and SIUE are the only ways to move this résumé beyond automatic-qualifier territory.

Date Opponent Ranking Outcome
11/8@Belmont69L87-79
11/16@WKU170L95-82
11/20@Tennessee16L89-60
11/25@UNC Asheville246W75-73
11/30@Chattanooga301W70-64
12/3@Alabama A&M307L80-53
12/13@UNLV108W63-60
12/18TN Martin223W78-71
12/20SE Missouri St232L91-82
12/30@Tennessee Tech315W88-76
1/3@Ark Little Rock311W84-79
1/8@W Illinois364W90-68
1/10@E Illinois323L74-70
1/15Morehead St283W105-100
1/17Southern Indiana339W73-67
1/22@SIUE256L74-66
1/24@Lindenwood267W96-86
1/29Ark Little Rock311W70-63
2/2Tennessee Tech315L90-85
2/5E Illinois323W77-68
2/7W Illinois364W83-56
2/12@Southern Indiana339W73-71
2/14@Morehead St283L94-86
2/19Lindenwood267W89-80
2/21SIUE256W80-53
2/26@SE Missouri St232W79-71
2/28@TN Martin223W67-42
3/6(N)TN Martin223W68-55
3/7(N)Morehead St283W93-67