AMHERST, N.Y. -- The Daemen University men's basketball team is ranked No. 15 in the National Association of Basketball Coaches (NABC) NCAA Division II Men's Basketball Preseason Poll, the organization announced on Tuesday. Ranked in the top-10 for the past two seasons, the Wildcats finished the 2025-26 season ranked No. 4 by the NABC. 

Daemen is the only East Region team represented in the top-25 in the preseason poll. The Wildcats will face three ranked teams to start the season, with Saint Anselm and Saint Michael's both receiving votes in the preseason poll. Daemen opens the season at Saint Anselm on Monday, Nov. 9 in Manchester, N.H. and will host Saint Michael's on Friday, Nov. 13 in their home opener of the East Region Challenge. Reigning national champions Gannon, who Daemen will face at home on Saturday, Nov. 14 in the East Region Challenge, is ranked No. 3 in the preseason poll. 

The Wildcats come into the 2026-27 campaign as the reigning East Coast Conference and NCAA Div. II East Region champions after a historic 2025-26 campaign that saw a program-best 33-2 record after sweeping the conference (16-0) for the second straight season. After becoming the first ECC program to record back-to-back undefeated regular season since Philadelphia Textile in the 1992-93 and 1993-94 seasons, Daemen earned their second consecutive ECC tournament title with wins over #5 seed D'Youville (73-59) and a big 20-point victory over #6 seed Roberts Wesleyan (86-66) in the conference championship game. The Wildcats hosted the NCAA Tournament for the second year in a row and cruised through the region, dominating in all three games (111-78 over #8 seed Goldey-Beacom, 85-62 over #5 seed Saint Michael's, 94-73 over #3 seed Saint Anselm) en route to hoist the program's second East Region trophy, first since 2021, and punch their ticket to the Elite Eight. Daemen entered as the #4 seed and played #5 Lander in an instant classic in the Elite Eight, trading points throughout the game before the Wildcats fell in a three-point heartbreaker, 74-77, to the eventual national champion runners up Bearcats. 

Picked No. 1 in the 2026-27 ECC Preseason Poll, Daemen finished the 25-26 season atop the ECC in 16 statistical categories, and in the top 10 in the NCAA in seven areas. The Wildcats led the conference in assists to turnover ratio, assists per game, blocks per game, effective field goal ratio, field goal percentage, fastbreak points, field goal percentage defense, fouls per game, rebounding margin, rebounds per game, scoring defense, scoring margin, three-point percentage, three-point percentage defense, turnovers per game, and winning percentage. The Wildcats led NCAA Div. II in blocks, and ranked in the top-10 in assists (2nd), winning percentage (2nd), scoring margin (4th), rebound margin (6th), fouls per game (8th), and rebounds per game (9th). Daemen has won 42 straight ECC regular season games, a streak that dates back to Feb. 9, 2024.