Crawfordsville, Ind. — The Wabash College basketball team has been picked to finish fifth in the 2025-26 North Coast Athletic Conference men's basketball race, according to the preseason coaches poll released Wednesday by the league office.
Denison, the defending NCAC regular-season and tournament champion, earned six of the possible nine first-place votes to top the poll with 76 points. John Carroll received one first-place vote and 66 points to place second, followed by Wooster in third with 60 points. DePauw (55 points) and Wabash (52 points) each garnered one first-place vote to round out the top five. Ohio Wesleyan (35), Oberlin (23), Wittenberg (21), and Kenyon (17) completed the poll.
Wabash returns three starters and much of its scoring from last season's 17-9 team that finished second in the NCAC regular season standings with a 13-3 league mark. Head coach
Kyle Brumett, entering his 12th season, leads a veteran lineup anchored by senior guards
Josh Whack and
Randy Kelley, senior forward
Rich Brooks, and senior post
Gavin Schippert.
Whack averaged 8.3 points and 2.0 assists while shooting 88 percent from the free-throw line in 2024-25. Kelley added 6.8 points and 2.8 assists, and Brooks connected on 41 three-pointers to average 9.4 points per game. Schippert contributed 7.3 points and a team-leading 5.0 rebounds while shooting better than 50 percent from the floor.
Juniors
Nate Matelic (8.8 ppg, 4.0 rpg) and
Keegan Manowitz (3.0 ppg, 0.6 apg) add depth to the rotation. Senior
Grant Brown, junior guard
Arlondo Hall, junior post
Tyler Horton, and sophomore wing
Ed Thomas will look to expand their roles this season.
The Little Giants will also welcome an influx of talent from their first-year class, including
Luke Ellspermann,
Deric Cannady,
AJ DeFur,
Colton Stowers,
Kadyn Ellery, and
Isaac Rivas.
The Little Giants will look to build on last season's defensive edge—holding opponents to just 63.1 points per game while outscoring foes by nearly seven points per contest—despite graduating leading scorer
Vinny Buccilla and rebounder and shot-blocker
Noah Hupmann.
Wabash opens the 2025–26 season on Saturday, November 8, at 3 p.m., traveling to face Hanover College.
