Owensboro, Ky. – The Kentucky Wesleyan men's basketball team has been picked sixth among the 12 teams in the annual Great Midwest Men's Basketball Coaches Preseason Poll, as announced by the league office Wednesday afternoon.
The Panthers were picked first in last year's poll en route to a second-place finish in the conference.
Wesleyan essentially has a brand-new team, returning just five players overall and just one that played major minutes last season in Fatih Huyuk. The big man was one of the best in the conference last year before suffering a season-ending injury. The other four returners are Gavin Reed, Carter Bischoff, Jack Mahoney, and Boden Bates.
The Panthers will have 12 newcomers for the 2025-26 campaign: nine transfers (JJ Faulkner, Caleb Mackrey, Anthony Davis Jr., LaVonte Harris, Jorge Sanchez-Ramos, Ke'Andre Jones, Jordan Brown, Chinedu Nwanko, and Armandas Plintauskas) and three freshmen (Briar Griffin, Tavion Williams, and Haiden Evans). For the full roster, click here.
"Without going too far back, the last two seasons have seen preseason #6 and preseason #8 win the regular season. Then, last year, preseason #5 won the conference tournament as the #7 seed," head coach Drew Cooper said. "We're so new. Right now, we're focused on doing our job well enough to be much improved in March relative to November. Preseason rankings are interesting to glance at and then move on from. That's what we'll do."
Findlay, who won the conference by one game last season, was picked atop the poll for the upcoming year with 126 points and eight first place votes. Ashland and last year's Player of the Year, Maceo Williams, earned 117 points and two first place votes, and Thomas More rounded out the top three with 112 points and the final two first place votes.
The Panthers begin their campaign tonight, Wednesday, October 22, against the Hilltoppers of Western Kentucky in a free-admission exhibition at 6:30 PM at E.A. Diddle Arena. Fans can also listen live on 94.7 WBIO.
Visit kwcpanthers.com/give today to make a gift to Kentucky Wesleyan Athletics! Gifts can be directed to general athletics, our athletic endowment, or any of our 14 NCAA Division II programs
Stay up to date on all your Panther news by following @KWCPanthers on X and Instagram and by liking the "Kentucky Wesleyan College Athletics" Facebook page. Also, the Panthers Mobile App is available on iTunes and Android featuring real-time news alerts, schedules, exclusive multimedia content, gameday details and more.
