The second SCIAC team ever to reach the quarterfinals of the NCAA Championship, the University of Redlands has been picked to top the conference in the 2025-26 SCIAC Men’s Basketball Preseason Poll, as voted by the league’s head coaches.
Receiving all but one first-place vote in the poll and ranked No. 6 in the Preseason D3hoops.com Top 25, the Bulldogs welcome back a pair of D3hoops.com Preseason All-America selections in
Chozen Amadi and SCIAC Defensive Athlete of the Year
Omari Ferguson after upsetting No. 13 Tufts University and No. 10 Hampden-Sydney University before giving national runner-up No. 1 New York University its joint-closest game before the final. The Maroon and Grey led the conference in scoring for the fourth straight year as their breakneck pace generated 86.3 points per game paired with a suffocating defense that forced a ridiculous 19.9 turnovers per game to allow just 70.1, good for second in the conference. Fellow First Team All-SCIAC selection
Lucas Gordon also returns after leading the conference with 1.3 blocks per game, ranking third in rebounding (9.7) and 11
th in scoring (13.1).
Back-to-back SCIAC Tournament champion RV Claremont-Mudd-Scripps Colleges have upset California Lutheran University in each of the last two years and have been afforded accompanying respect with an 18-point margin in the poll.
Reid Jones is the top returning scorer at 10.9 points per game to go with team-highs in assists (85) and steals (65) for what will be a new-look squad replacing its top three players in scoring and minutes played.
Will Householter and
James Frye also played regular rotation roles for the Stags with a combined 14.9 points, 6.8 rebounds, 2.0 assists and 1.9 steals across 41.3 minutes per game.
Also back-to-back defending champions over the regular season, Cal Lutheran must replace several four-year impact players too.
Ze’ev Remer is the most experienced returnee with 12 starts in 24 appearances, while
Matthew Verkamp averaged 20.2 minutes while coming off the bench in all 28 games as a sophomore.
RV Chapman University will benefit from a final year for two-time All-SCIAC First Team choice
Jake Heberle, one of just four returning All-SCIAC players across the whole conference. The long-range marksman ranked sixth in the conference with 18.1 points per game while leading all players in three-point percentage (43.2), three-pointers made (48) and free throw percentage (90.2) in addition to cracking the top-15 in rebounds and steals.
The rookie duo of
Sam Lind and
Samir O’Brien look to be the new core for Pomona-Pitzer Colleges which will also have to replace a quartet of four-year contributors. The pair combined to average 14.1 points and 6.4 rebounds in 40.5 minutes per game while appearing in all 26 contests for the Sagehens.
Newcomer of the Year
Nasir Luna was only one half of another dynamic rookie tandem alongside
Alex McCleery Brown for Occidental College, which returns the highest percentage of its 2024-25 production of any team in the conference as just one of the Tigers’ eight rotation players graduated while their top seven scorers are back. Luna and McCleery Brown in particular made their presence felt immediately with a combined 33.2 points, 8.7 rebounds, 1.8 assists and 1.2 steals per game while shooting better than 50 percent from the floor.
Second Team All-SCIAC choice
Chine Nwanevu headlines a Whittier College squad coming off its most successful season since 2012-13 and led by Coaching Staff of the Year winner
Mark Jensen. University of La Verne graduate student
Ryan Lin is the only returning starter for the Leopards, who also have regular contributor
Cody Aquino back, while D3hoops.com Team of the Week selection
Noah Hicks enters senior year for Caltech already having eclipsed 1,000 career points.
The season opens on Friday, Nov. 7 with CMS, La Verne and Redlands on the road with the 110 Freeway Rivalry between Caltech and Occidental scheduled for the following day in Pasadena.
2025-26 SCIAC Men’s Basketball Preseason Poll
1. Redlands, 80 points (8 first-place votes)
2. Claremont-Mudd-Scripps, 72 pts (1)
3. California Lutheran, 54 pts
4. Chapman, 52 pts
5. Pomona-Pitzer, 43 pts
6. Occidental, 39 pts
7. Whittier, 36 pts
8. La Verne, 19 pts
9. Caltech, 10 pts
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