For the Eastland boys basketball team, there is a certain been-there, done-that quality to its next step along the postseason tournament trail.

The Cougars are at the Elite Eight level for the third time in the past 6 years. Next up is the Class 1A DeKalb Supersectional, where they'll take on Newark tonight at 6 p.m. in the Convocation Center on the campus of Northern Illinois University. At stake is a berth in the state tournament, which begins Friday in Peoria.

When Eastland last played in a supersectional, in 2010, it rolled to a 70-57 victory over – you guessed it – Newark. That Norsemen team was a junior-dominated squad whose nucleus rolled to a state championship in 2011.