NCAA Tournament March Madness

#353 W Illinois

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Projection: need to automatically qualify

Western Illinois finds itself in a precarious position for NCAA tournament consideration, primarily due to a weak overall performance and a challenging conference slate. The non-conference loss to teams like Pepperdine and the narrow win against Cent Arkansas underscore their struggles to compete against even mid-tier opponents, while consistent losses to conference rivals like Tennessee Martin and Morehead State paint a gloomy picture. Their low rankings in offensive efficiency highlight a lack of scoring depth, which could be further exploited against stronger defenses. The road ahead is tough, but winning key matchups against the bottom teams in their conference could provide a slim chance for an automatic qualifier spot; however, the odds are stacked heavily against them.

Date Opponent Ranking Outcome
11/4@San Jose St158W59-55
11/6@Pepperdine228L77-64
11/13WI Green Bay335L87-73
11/16Cent Arkansas333W63-61
11/19@Northern Iowa104L82-56
11/26@South Alabama141W64-63
11/27(N)Incarnate Word250L86-75
12/14@South Dakota249L89-66
12/17Tennessee Tech261W71-68
12/21@Lindenwood336L71-65
1/2@SIUE233L77-66
1/4@E Illinois332W75-67
1/9TN Martin283L85-83
1/11Tennessee St275L72-52
1/16@Morehead St285L51-47
1/18@Southern Indiana317L78-66
1/23Ark Little Rock204L62-51
1/25SE Missouri St235L72-51
1/30E Illinois332L71-59
2/1SIUE233L69-65
2/6@Tennessee St27538%
2/8@TN Martin28339%
2/13Southern Indiana31749%
2/15Morehead St28547%
2/20@SE Missouri St23536%
2/22@Ark Little Rock20434%
2/25Lindenwood33651%
2/27@Tennessee Tech26138%