NCAA Tournament March Madness

#356 W Illinois

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Projection: need to automatically qualify

Western Illinois’s resume leaves little room for an at-large because its nonconference slate was marred by heavy defeats at high-major opponents such as Iowa and Drake and it lacks a signature win on a neutral floor. A lone road victory at North Dakota is the team’s best moment but it is largely overwhelmed by blowouts and concerning road losses at Radford, Cal Baptist and others that committee voters will view as damaging. Road success beyond that North Dakota result is scarce, so the severity of those losses matters more than the modest quality of the victory. The practical path to the NCAA field runs through winning the conference tournament and the remaining conference schedule — trips to Morehead State and Southern Indiana along with home dates against Eastern Illinois, Lindenwood and Southeast Missouri State and a road trip to SIUE — are the last opportunities to reshape the resume before selection.

Date Opponent Ranking Outcome
11/3@Radford261L80-75
11/7@Iowa20L77-58
11/11@CS Bakersfield305L74-58
11/14@Cal Baptist138L69-59
11/21Coastal Car246L84-64
11/23North Dakota308L78-69
12/2@Drake171L108-57
12/13@North Dakota308W69-66
12/18@Lindenwood247L92-76
12/22SIUE260L66-61
1/1@TN Martin203L67-60
1/3@SE Missouri St250L73-50
1/8Tennessee St240L90-68
1/10Tennessee Tech333L59-54
1/13@E Illinois314L57-55
1/17@Ark Little Rock293L86-79
1/22@Morehead St29618%
1/24@Southern Indiana32424%
1/29SE Missouri St25026%
1/31TN Martin20320%
2/5@Tennessee Tech33326%
2/7@Tennessee St24011%
2/10E Illinois31441%
2/12Ark Little Rock29335%
2/19Southern Indiana32445%
2/21Morehead St29636%
2/26@SIUE26013%
2/28Lindenwood24726%