NAIA Men’s Basketball: Yotes Begin 2025-26 Campaign at No. 1 while Top Four Teams Receive First-Place Votes

KANSAS CITY, Mo. – The courts are mopped, hoops all have new nets, and the 2025-26 NAIA Men’s Basketball season is underway with the release of the Preseason Coaches’ Top 25 Poll. The defending national champions of the College of Idaho open the year in the top spot, receiving 11 first-place votes. Arizona Christian, Georgetown (Ky.), and Langston (Okla.) all received first-place votes to start the year, ranking second through fourth.

Oklahoma Wesleyan, the 2024-25 national tournament runner-ups, will open a new campaign at No. 10, while the first-year program, Georgia Gwinnett, received some votes to tip off the inaugural season.

Countable games begin on Oct. 23rd, and with some early invitationals around the nation, teams will be tested right away. One notable top-3 match-up that will take place early is the Firestorm against the Tigers in the Remy Williams Memorial Invite at Park (Mo.) on November 2nd at 1 p.m. CT. The OKWU Eagles will take on the Grizzlies of GGC on Friday, Oct. 31, in The Tulsa Challenge.

	1. College of Idaho Notes: The 2024-25 national champions will tip off the new season atop the preseason coaches poll, led by the senior guard Samaje Morgan, who collected first-team All-American honors and was named as the 2024-25 national tournament MVP. The College of Idaho will also look to build on its 25-game winning streak from last year.Season Opener: The Yotes will tip off a new campaign on Saturday with an exhibition against the University of Wyoming. College of Idaho’s first countable game will take place on Saturday, November 1, when they hit the road for a meeting with Carroll (Mont.), followed by Montana Western on Nov. 3.
	2. Arizona Christian Notes: ACU made a Fab Four appearance last season, coming out of the Cramer Quadrant. The Firestorm will be led this season by returning third-team All-American Ese Onakpoma. ACU will be junior and senior-heavy this season, with freshmen and sophomores representing just four of the 19 players on the roster. The Firestorm aims to qualify for the national tournament for the eighth consecutive season.Season Opener: ACU opens the season on Friday, Oct. 25, with a home game against Lewis-Clark State (Idaho) in the ACU Events Center before flying to Parkville, Missouri, for the Remy Williams Memorial Invitational hosted by Park (Mo.), where they will take on Peru State (Neb.). Park (Mo.), and Georgetown (Ky.).
	3. Georgetown (Ky.) Notes: Following a national tournament exit in the quarterfinals last season, the young Tigers squad aims to continue the rich tradition of being a national tournament team in 2025-26, starting the year receiving two first-place votes.Season Opener: The Tigers will open the year at home against IU Southeast (Ind.) before traveling to Parkville, Missouri, for the Remy Williams Memorial Invitational. They will face a test immediately, meeting ACU on November 2 at 1 p.m. CT.
	4. Langston (Okla.) Notes: The Lions open the season fourth nationally after dropping their first game in the Round of 16 last season. Last season, LU held its opponents to an average of 63.6 points per game and will look to improve on that in 2025-26.Season Opener: The Lions’ first four games will be played at home through November 11th, featuring matchups against Florida College, Saint Mary (Kan.), Oklahoma Wesleyan, Texas A&M-Texarkana, and Tabor (Kan.).
	5. Freed-Hardeman (Tenn.) Notes: The Lions will look for others to step up early and often this season. FHU averaged 81.6 points per game last season with 34.4 boards per game. Freed-Hardeman will look to control the Mid-South Conference yet again this season as they search to make it four conference tournament titles in a row.Season Opener: Freed-Hardeman will hit the road right away, with a trip to Huntsville, Alabama, to open the season against Oakwood. The Lions will then return home to Henderson for a pair of games against Welch and Montreat (N.C.).
	6. Indiana Wesleyan Notes: The Wildcats return two key players from last season in DJ Moore at guard and Bright Kari at forward. IWU also adds a 7-foot-3 redshirt junior center in Rocco Muratori, as they look to have a bigger presence around the rim. Indiana Wesleyan posted a +9.6 scoring margin last season while shooting 50.4% from the floor and 39.7% from deep.Season Opener: The Wildcats will take on Kuyper College on Tuesday, October 28, for the season opener at home, before entering the Crossroads League and Wolverine-Hoosier Athletic Conference challenges, where they will face Cornerstone (Mich.) and Indiana Tech.
	7. Grace (Ind.) Notes: The Lancers will lean on Ian Raasch and Gage Sefton this season as the veterans of a young squad after graduating seven players from last year’s roster. Grace was a hot shooting team last year, hitting 52.8% of their shots from the field and 43.3% of their shots from downtown, defeating opponents by an average margin of 13.5 points last season. The increase in size around the perimeter and in the box this season has the Lancers ready to chase their fifth straight Crossroads League Tournament title.Season Opener: Grace’s first countable game of the season will be on Friday, the 24th, at home against Governors State before they enter the Crossroads League, Great Plains Athletic Conference Challenge, when Morningside (Iowa) comes to the lake and Manaham Orthopedic Capital Center.
	8. Northwestern (Iowa) Notes: The Red Raiders begin not only a new season, but a new era with first-year head coach Colton Kooima. Voted to finish first in the Great Plains Athletic Conference Coaches’ Poll this season, NWC will look to Jesse Van Kalsbeek, Jalen Langsy, and Kaleb Booth to lead this year’s squad. The Red Raiders averaged nearly 90 points per game last season, 89.5, and a +16.0 scoring margin. Northwestern looks to carry momentum over from last season.Season Opener: NWC will travel south for its first game of the season, taking on Friends (Kan.) in Wichita, Kan., on Saturday, the 25th. The Red Raiders will then open the Bultman Center for the first home game of the year against Central on Tuesday, Oct. 28.
	9. The Master’s (Calif.) Notes: The Mustangs will lean on four veterans to lead the squad this season after 204-25 first-team All-American Kaleb Lowery graduated. TMU scored an average of 14.8 more points and 7.3 more rebounds than their opponents last season and will look to continue that trend this season with a young squad.Season Opener: TMU will have home court advantage to open the year, playing at home against Our Lady of the Lake (Texas) on the 23rd and Providence (Mont.) on the 25th, respectively. The Mustangs will then host The MacArthur Trust Classic and take on Texas A&M San-Antonio and Mission (Mo.) on Oct. 31 and Nov. 1.
	10. Oklahoma Wesleyan Notes: The 2024-25 national runner-ups, the Eagles, were picked to finish at the top of the KCAC. OKWU will look to make it back-to-back historic seasons this year despite losing a pair of key players and All-Americans in first-team Derrick Talton Jr. and third-team Jaden Lietzke. Oklahoma Wesleyan was solid at the charity stripe last season, shooting 71.6% (535-for-747).Season Opener: The Eagles will open the season in The Tulsa Challenge against first-year program Georgia Gwinnett and Langston (Okla.) on Oct 31 and Nov. 1 at Skiatook High School.

Poll Methodology

• The national poll is for publicity purposes only and does not influence the selection process for national championship consideration.
• A panel of head coaches representing each conference and the Continental Athletic Conference (Independents) votes in the poll.
• The Top 25 teams are selected using a points-based system:
  • 30 points for a 1st-place vote, 29 for 2nd, 28 for 3rd, and so on.
• The highest and lowest rankings received by each team are discarded before final tallying.
• Teams receiving only one point are not listed as “receiving votes.”
• For the Preseason Poll, there is no “previous ranking” column since it is the initial poll and differs from the prior rating system.