Leatherneck Nation

Going to try to list all the local/teams of interest involved in all the various postseason tournaments. Probably will miss a few, just fyi.

NCAA D1 Men's Tournament
#3 Iowa State vs #14 Lipscomb
#7 Marquette vs #10 New Mexico
#6 Missouri vs #11 Drake
#2 Saint John's vs #15 Omaha
#3 Wisconsin vs #14 Montana
#1 Houston vs #16 SIU Edwardsville
#4 Purdue vs #13 High Point
#6 Illinois vs #11 (Texas or Xavier)

NCAA D1 Women's Tournament
#11 Iowa State vs #11 Princeton (first four game)
#5 Ole Miss vs #12 Ball State
#6 Iowa vs #11 Murray State
#7 Oklahoma vs #10 South Dakota State
#8 Utah vs #9 Indiana
#5 Alabama vs #12 Green Bay
#8 Illinois vs #9 Creighton
#3 Notre Dame vs #14 Stephen F. Austin

NCAA D2 Tournament - has already had their first two rounds. Only team in our area that is left is:
Men - #4 UMSL vs #2 Lake Superior State
Area teams that made the tournament but are eliminated now:
Men - Missouri S&T
Women - Missouri Western and Quincy

NCAA D3 Tournament
Men - nobody from our area made it to the semifinals (final four). In the tournament were Wisconsin Lutheran, Central (IA), University of Chicago, Illinois Wesleyan, and Wisconsin La Crosse.
Women - Wisconsin Oshkosh and Wisconsin Stout are both in the final four. Other teams in the tournament were: Wartburg (IA), Wisconsin Stevens Point, Wisconsin Lutheran, Illinois Wesleyan, Wisconsin Superior, Ripon (WI), Wisconsin La Crosse and Wisconsin Whitewater.

Men's D1 NIT
#1 SMU vs UNI
#3 Arkansas vs Saint Louis
#3 Bradley vs North Alabama
#4 San Jose State vs Loyola Chicago

Women's D1 NIT
Bracket will be announced tonight, but local teams other than our Leathernecks include: Illinois State, Lindenwood, Butler, North Dakota State, Purdue Fort Wayne, Southern Indiana, and UIC.

Other Tournaments:
Men's CBI (https://collegebasketballinvitational.c ... TV-1-1.pdf) includes Illinois State.
Men's College Basketball Crown (https://collegebasketballcrown.com/#bracket) tournament includes DePaul and doesn't start until March 31.

Grinnell College was also in the NCAA Division 3 Men's Tournament.  Grinnell won the Midwest Conference Tournament.  The Midwest Conference includes area teams Monmouth, Knox, and Illinois College.

Grinnell lost in a Regional Semi-Final game to UW-Platteville.

Both OVC champs were 16 seeds

meganeck wrote: Mon Mar 17, 2025 5:32 pm Both OVC champs were 16 seeds


 

At least both Tennessee Tech (Women's Tournament) and SIU-Edwardsville (Men's Tournament) were able to avoid the #16 vs #16 Play-In game.
 
 

I did some reading and it sounds like the WBIT (Women's Basketball Invitation Tournament) is kinda the #2 tournament now for the women, with the WNIT at #3 in terms of choices for teams.
First round was yesterday, and local teams that played were:
UNI lost to #3 Florida
#3 Missouri State beat Oral Roberts
Marquette beat #4 Drake

Missouri State will host #3 Minnesota on Sunday.

In the women's NIT, teams we're familiar with:

Lindenwood beat Tulsa 76-60 and will play at Tarleton State on Sunday
Southern Indiana will host Campbell (who beat Coastal Carolina yesterday)
North Dakota State hosts New Mexico State on Monday night
Butler will host the winner of UIC and UAB (that game played tonight at 7 PM at UIC)
Purdue Fort Wayne will host the winner of Old Dominion and Navy (that game played tomorrow)

Teams in our region still playing...

3/26 at 4 PM - Men's CBI - Illinois State vs Cleveland State for CBI Championship (ESPN2)
3/26 at 6 PM - Men's NIT -  Kent State vs Loyola Chicago (ESPN2)
3/28 at 9:09 PM - Men's NCAA Tournament - #4 Purdue vs #1 Houston (TBS/truTV)
3/31 at 2 PM - Men's CBC - Utah vs Butler (FS1)
4/1 at 2 PM - Men's CBC - DePaul vs Cincinnati (FS1)

3/26 at 6:30 PM - Women's NIT - Lindenwood vs Louisiana Tech (ESPN+)
3/27 at 6:30 PM - Women's NIT - Abilene Christian at Illinois State
3/27 at 6:30 PM - Women's NIT - Buffalo at Southern Indiana (ESPN+)
3/27 at 7 PM - Women's NIT - Washington State at North Dakota State
3/28 at 6 PM - Women's NIT - Butler at Purdue Fort Wayne (ESPN+)
3/29 at 12 PM - Women's NCAA Tournament - #3 Notre Dame vs #2 TCU (ABC)

In DII and DIII, the only teams in our region in their respective final fours were in the women's DIII bracket, both UW-Oshkosh and UW-Stout made it, but lost to Smith and NYU respectively.
In NAIA, there were teams in our region in the women's final four: Dordt (Iowa) vs Bethel (TN) and Briar Cliff (Iowa) vs Indiana Wesleyan. Dordt (Sioux Center, IA) beat Indiana Wesleyan (Marion, IN) for the championship.

 

Even though Illinois State will be the "host" team for its game WNIT with Abilene Christian, the game will not be held at ISU.

Redbird Arena will be hosting the annual Chi Omega March Madness, an annual dance competition involving the Greek community at Illinois State in support of the Make-A-Wish foundation.

And Horton Field House is not able to host any events due to HVAC system issues.

So the game will be at the Shirk Center at Illinois Wesleyan.

The game will be available on ISU's You-Tube Channel:  https://www.youtube.com/live/2AG12IhMfUA

Purple CBI Championship game:
Illinois State  79
Cleveland State  68

Attendance at Daytona Beach = 541 
 
 
 

WNIT Third Round Game:

Illinois State  78
Abilene Christian  68

Attendance at Illinois Wesleyan = 1,380

Illinois State will now host Louisiana Tech in a WNIT Quarter-Final game on Monday at 6:00 PM.
 
 

WNIT Quarter-Final Game:

Illinois State  78
Louisiana Tech  70

Attendance at Illinois State = 2,168