Record: 26-8 (14-4 Big Sky)
Region — Seed: South — No. 13
RPI: 78
BPI: 137
Conference: Big Sky
How They Qualified: Big Sky Tournament champs
Before this season, Eastern Washington has been a mediocre team, at best, under head coach Jim Hayford. Prior to the 2014-15 season, the Eagles hadn’t finished better than 15-16 under Hayford, but have exceeded all expectations this year, recording an impressive 24-8 mark.
With impressive young talent in place, this program has a chance to be even better in the Big Sky for years to come. Even top scorer Tyler Harvey is just a sophomore with a very high ceiling.
What You Need to Know:
Leading Scorer: Tyler Harvey (23.1 ppg)
Leading Rebounder: Venky Jois (7.8 rpg)
Leading Passer: Drew Brandon (4.9 apg)
Bad Losses: none
Good Wins: at Indiana, vs. Montana
With a solid road win early in the year against Indiana, the Eagles had already set the bar for how the rest of the season would be measured. This team came out victorious more often than not in conference play and ran through the conference tournament with its potent offense — ranking third in the country in points per game.
Harvey and junior forward Venky Jois have led the Eagles to one of the best offenses in the country and with solid inside-out play with those two stars, this team could end up making some noise in the tourney.
Connor Muldowney is a columnist for www.RantSports.com. Follow him on Twitter @Connormuldowney, “Like” him on Facebook or add him to your network on Google. You can also reach him at [email protected].