ROLLA, Mo. – 10 days out from the start of the 2024-25 NCAA Division II college basketball season, it has been announced that the Arkansas Tech men's basketball team will open as the No. 24-ranked program in DII according the National Association of Basketball Coaches (NABC) preseason coaches poll that was released on Tuesday.
The Wonder Boys enter the new campaign looking to defend their conference regular season and tournament championships this past March. It was the program's fifth conference tournament championship and their 22
nd regular season title.
Earlier this month, the Wonder Boys were tabbed as the preseason favorites in the Great American Conference according to the league's preseason coaches poll.
A year removed from that dual championship run, the Wonder Boys return two players who started at least 20 games and three that played in at least 30 games total. Headlined among those returners is
Cassius Brooks. The Chicago native made an immediate impact in his first year as a Wonder Boy and was lauded as an Honorable Mention All-GAC player. He would be named the GAC Tournament MVP as he averaged 21.3 ppg over the three games and ended the season as the Wonder Boys' second-leading scorer, averaging 13.2 ppg.
Kade Shaffer is the other starter returning for the Wonder Boys. Mostly running the point last season, Shaffer averaged 8.0 ppg, 2.4 rpg and 4.6 apg.
Trey Allen,
Sean Cobb, and
Braden Tanner are the three other experienced returners with each playing in at least 30 games.
The Wonder Boys will begin their season by hosting the GAC/MIAA Crossover Challenge in Tucker Coliseum on Friday, November 8 where they will play Missouri Southern at 7:30 p.m. that night. The following day, Tech will take on Newman starting at 4:30 p.m.
NABC NCAA Division II Preseason Poll
| RANK |
SCHOOL |
2023 RECORD |
POINTS |
PREVIOUS |
| 1 |
Minnesota State (10) |
35-1 |
393 |
2 |
| 2 |
Nova Southeastern (6) |
32-3 |
390 |
1 |
| 3 |
West Texas A&M |
30-5 |
346 |
9 |
| 4 |
MSU Moorhead |
25-6 |
271 |
11 |
| 5 |
DBU |
25-6 |
233 |
12 |
| 6 |
California, Pa. |
27-4 |
222 |
8 |
| 7 |
Gannon, Pa. |
32-3 |
204 |
3 |
| 8 |
Colorado School of Mines |
24-9 |
190 |
23 |
| 9 |
North Georgia |
28-7 |
184 |
14 |
| 10 |
Washburn |
19-11 |
169 |
NR |
| 11 |
Charleston |
29-5 |
162 |
7 |
| 12 |
Cal State Dominguez Hills |
22-8 |
160 |
NR |
| 13 |
Minnesota Duluth |
26-7 |
143 |
10 |
| 14 |
Cal State San Bernardino |
27-8 |
141 |
20 |
| 15 |
Central Washington |
22-10 |
139 |
NR |
| 16 |
Fort Hays State |
23-9 |
135 |
19 |
| 17 |
West Liberty |
26-7 |
129 |
16 |
| 18 |
Lincoln Memorial |
24-9 |
107 |
NR |
| 19 |
Florida Southern |
23-10 |
99 |
NR |
| 20 |
Northwest Missouri State |
29-5 |
95 |
4 |
| 21 |
Colorado Mesa |
29-5 |
91 |
6 |
| 22 |
Fort Lewis |
29-4 |
90 |
5 |
| 23 |
Saint Michael's |
24-9 |
80 |
NR |
| 24 |
Arkansas Tech |
25-7 |
77 |
NR |
| 25 |
Ferris State |
28-8 |
72 |
NR |
Others receiving votes: Alabama Huntsville 67, UNC Pembroke 60, Truman State 60, Clark Atlanta 59, Lake Superior State 52, St. Thomas Aquinas48, USC Aiken 48, Point Loma 43, Walsh 40, Lubbock Christian 38, Lander 37, Kentucky Wesleyan 35, Southern New Hampshire 34, Cal State LA 32, Pittsburg State 31, Carson-Newman 30, Indianapolis 24, MSU Denver 21, St. Edward's 21, Illinois Springfield 11, Miles 11, Catawba 10, Southwest Minnesota State 10, Post 9, Hillsdale 8, William Jewell 7, Lincoln 6, Bentley 5, Montana State Billings 5, Concord 4, Daemen 4, Upper Iowa 4, Academy of Art 2.
