Last season marked the first time that the Patriot League had a champion not named Colgate since the pandemic. However, just about all of the all-conference players are gone, with a hefty senior class departing and a few talented youngsters bolting for the transfer portal. In what is already one of the flattest leagues in the country, a league where teams can’t utilize the transfer portal as much as most, but still get ravaged by it, there is a ton of uncertainty.
Patriot League Preseason Poll
It’s extremely rare that a team with a first-year head coach is picked atop the preseason poll, but the Midshipmen took major strides last season and kept the staff and team intact by promoting Jon Perry to the top spot. Preseason Patriot League Player of the Year Austin Benigni will run the show, while almost every key contributor from the defense that ranked atop the league returns. Aidan Kehoe gives Navy serious size down low, and Donovan Draper plays above his size.
The Terriers bring back two double-digit scorers in Kyrone Alexander and Michael McNair, while getting Ethan Okwuosa back from an injury that cost him all but one game in 2024-25. Alexander averaged 16.5 points and 6.2 rebounds per game over the final six games of the season and looks to carry that momentum into this season. Big man Malcolm Chimezie was a key piece of one of the best defensive rebounding teams in the country as well.
Preseason All-Patriot League selection Jalen Cox now has a full year as the Raiders’ go-to guy under his belt and is primed to break out even further in his junior season. While the rest of the team around him is fairly unproven, veterans Brady Cummins and Parker Jones provide stability on the wings. Green Bay transfer Ben Tweedy and sophomore Josh Ahayere are upside swings in the backcourt. Watch out for freshman big Ayomi Odetoyinbo, who can really run the floor.
The reigning champions lost two iconic senior classes-worth of championship players. However, Duane Simpkins’ program returns a lot of contributors from the group that cut down the nets. Greg Jones was one of the most efficient players in the conference as a 6-foot-6 wing. Geoff Sprouse will step right into the point guard role. The Eagles need to get the best version of Matt Mayock, a sniper in the frontcourt, this year.
After losing superstar big man Noah Williamson and breakout star guard Josh Bascoe, John Griffin’s regular-season champion Bison have to rely on some younger talent. The key upperclassmen are Achile Spadone and Ruot Bijiek, who will be the leaders on this team. Bucknell may need a breakout season from Jayden Williams or Brandon McCreesh in the backcourt. Keep an eye on German freshman big man Amon Dorries, who has a chance to be one of the top rookies in the conference.
Loyola has one of the best backcourts in the Patriot League in year two under Josh Loeffler. Jacob Theodosiou, Braeden Speed and Jordan Stiemke combined to average 33 points per game last season, and all have at least one more year after this one as well. For frontcourt replacements, Loeffler went into the portal for Air Force’s Sam Springer and Radford’s Jonas Sirtautas.
While Lafayette was unable to retain sharpshooter Alex Chaikin, fellow rising sophomore Caleb Williams is back to run the show. He had a strong finish to the season, and provides much-needed spacing in the backcourt next to non-shooting point guard Mark Butler. Andrew Phillips brings even more shooting, while highly-touted Philadelphia-area freshmen Shareef Jackson and Luke Bevilacqua will have the task of replacing Justin Vander Baan.
The Mountain Hawks are led by junior guard Nasir Whitlock, who averaged 15.5 points in his last six games last year coming off the bench. Around him, Lehigh looks for breakout seasons from sophomore big man Hank Alvey and sophomore wing Edouard Benoit. Also, upperclassmen Joshua Ingram and Bube Momah are returning from injury.
Joe Nugent is the returning star for Holy Cross, but don’t sleep on Tyler Boston, who was one of the top freshmen in the conference before an injury robbed him of much of the season. Aidan Richard also had a solid freshman campaign last year and is back for more. But for an already bad defense to lose Caleb Kenney, it could be another year with one of the worst defenses in basketball for Dave Paulsen.
The Black Knights were surging toward their best season in years before losing four of the last five regular season games once Josh Scovens got hurt. The bad news is that neither Scovens, nor superstar guard Jalen Rucker, will be back. The load is going to be very heavy on junior point guard Ryan Curry to lead Army to any sort of success this season.
