SIUE celebrates after the win against SEMO in the OVC Tournament championship game on March 8, 2025, inside the Ford Center in Evansville, Ind.

Matt Kamp/The Intelligencer

It was a week ago that the SIUE Cougars won the Ohio Valley Conference Tournament to clinch their first berth into the NCAA Tournament.

The Cougars will learn on Sunday their opponent and seed for the tournament. The selection show will air at 5 p.m. central time on CBS.

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SIUE will be having a watch party for the show inside the First Community Arena in Edwardsville. Doors will open at 4 p.m. The event is free to the public.

The 68-team NCAA Tournament will include 31 conference tournament champions and 37 at-large bids.

Conference champions already qualified for the NCAA Tournament, along with SIUE, are Lipscomb, High Point, Drake, Wofford, Troy, Omaha, North Carolina-Wilmington, Saint Francis, Robert Morris, Gonzaga, McNeese State and Montana.

There will be 12 teams earning NCAA Tournament berths today with wins in its respective conference tournaments. Sunday will feature the last five conference championships of the season.

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Joe Lunardi has SIUE as a No.16 seed playing No. 1 Houston in a first-round match-up in Wichita as part of the Midwest bracket.

It’s a move up for the Cougars, who were predicted to be in the First Four games in Dayton by Lunardi the day after winning the OVC Tournament.

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Jerry Palm has SIUE as a No. 16 seed in a First Four game against American in the East bracket. The winner of the game would then play No. 1 Duke.

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Michael DeCourcy has SIUE as a No. 16 seed in a First Four game against Saint Francis in the South bracket. The winner would play No. 1 Auburn.