High Point Earns Top Spot in 2025-26 Men's Basketball Preseason Poll
JOHNSON CITY, Tenn. (www.BigSouthSports.com) –
High Point’s men’s basketball program has been chosen as the favorite in the Big South Conference’s annual preseason poll for the 2025-26 season, it was announced this morning.
The Panthers are the preseason favorite for the second consecutive year, as the voting panel of head coaches bestowed eight of the nine first-place votes and 80 of the possible 81 points upon HPU. The defending Big South Regular-Season and Conference Champions return eight players from a squad that tied the Big South overall win record last season with 29 victories, and advanced to the NCAA Tournament for the first time in program history. This is the fourth time the Panthers are the Big South’s men’s basketball overall preseason favorite, as the three previous times were 2007-08, 2015-16 and 2024-25 (High Point was the top North Division pick in 2013-14).
UNC Asheville followed in second-place with 68 points and the remaining first-place vote, followed by
Longwood in the third spot with 53 points.
Radford landed in the fourth position with 52 points, just ahead of fifth-place
Winthrop (51 points).
Presbyterian College was sixth with 37 points, ahead of
Charleston Southern (27 points).
Gardner-Webb (eighth, 19 points) and
USC Upstate (ninth, 18 points) round out the men’s preseason rankings.
The college basketball season tips off Monday, Nov. 3. The first conference date is Wednesday, Dec. 31, as the teams will play a 16-game schedule in 2025-26. The season culminates with the 2026 Big South Men's Basketball Basketball Championship March 4-8 at Freedom Hall Civic Center in Johnson City, Tenn.
| Rk - School (first-place votes) |
Points |
| 1 - High Point (8) |
80 |
| 2 - UNC Asheville (1) |
68 |
| 3 - Longwood |
53 |
| 4 - Radford |
52 |
| 5 - Winthrop |
51 |
| 6 - Presbyterian College |
37 |
| 7 - Charleston Southern |
27 |
| 8 - Gardner-Webb |
19 |
| 9 - USC Upstate |
18 |
Note: points are based on a weighted system. First-place votes received 9 points, followed by 8 points for second-place, and so on.