RUSSELLVILLE, Ark. – The Great American Conference released the 2025-26 men's basketball preseason poll on Thursday, and Southeastern was voted ninth by the league's coaches.
Topping the poll, Southern Nazarene garnered nine first-place votes and 119 points, while the remaining three first-place nods were scattered to Oklahoma Baptist, Harding and Arkansas Tech. OBU checked in behind the Crimson Storm in second with 103 votes, and the Bisons just edged out the Wonder Boys (4
th) for third with 95 points.
The Savage Storm received 49 points in this year's poll, 19 more than 10
th-place Southern Arkansas, while Northwestern Oklahoma State was picked to finish just ahead with 56 votes in eighth.
SE enters 2025-26 off the back of a 10-18 season a year ago, and finished 10
th in the league standings with an 8-14 mark. The Storm returns nine players from 2024-25, including veterans
Chandler Dickinson and
Jalen Williams, who have both been members of the program since 2021-22. Dickinson and Williams are two of three players to start ten or more games last year, and are joined by
Santiago Camacho Gomez, who made 18 starts.
In addition to the nine returners, head coach
Kelly Green brought in eight newcomers during the offseason, including a pair of transfers from Southwestern Christian and Oklahoma Baptist. A red-shirt junior,
Deondre Dunn, started all 26 games for Southwestern Christian last season and led the team with 17.7 points per game and was second with 143 rebounds.
Ethan Scott played the last three seasons at Oklahoma Baptist and averaged 7.0 points per game with 134 triples knocked down on a 41.2 percent shooting mark.
Southeastern opens the 2025-26 season at home, hosting the GAC/NISC Challenge on November 14-15. SE will play Minot State at 7:30 p.m. on Friday, Nov. 14, before facing off with Minnesota-Duluth on Saturday in the nightcap at 8:30 p.m.
