NCAA Tournament March Madness

#353 W Illinois

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Projection: need to automatically qualify

Western Illinois' résumé is built around a gritty road victory at North Dakota and a narrow home game with SIUE that showed fight, but it's been overwhelmed by lopsided road defeats at Iowa and Drake and a string of nonconference setbacks at Radford, CS Bakersfield and Coastal Carolina that leave the committee unconvinced. Those heavy losses away from home carry more weight than the closer outcomes and undermine evidence of consistent success against quality opposition. The remaining Ohio Valley slate still offers clear chances to change the narrative, with winnable home dates against Tennessee State, Tennessee Tech and Southern Indiana and resume-building trips to Eastern Illinois and Morehead State, but until Western Illinois begins to collect victories away from home and produces a couple of signature league wins the most reliable path to the NCAA field is through winning the conference crown.

Date Opponent Ranking Outcome
11/3@Radford252L80-75
11/7@Iowa18L77-58
11/11@CS Bakersfield308L74-58
11/14@Cal Baptist127L69-59
11/21Coastal Car224L84-64
11/23North Dakota322L78-69
12/2@Drake154L108-57
12/13@North Dakota322W69-66
12/18@Lindenwood234L92-76
12/22SIUE251L66-61
1/1@TN Martin20710%
1/3@SE Missouri St22712%
1/8Tennessee St22928%
1/10Tennessee Tech29539%
1/13@E Illinois32127%
1/17@Ark Little Rock31224%
1/22@Morehead St30523%
1/24@Southern Indiana33530%
1/29SE Missouri St22727%
1/31TN Martin20723%
2/5@Tennessee Tech29520%
2/7@Tennessee St22912%
2/10E Illinois32148%
2/12Ark Little Rock31245%
2/19Southern Indiana33552%
2/21Morehead St30543%
2/26@SIUE25114%
2/28Lindenwood23428%