The Standard Only Rises: Men's Basketball Look to Outplay 5th-Place Preseason Ranking

WACO, Texas – Despite losing all-world star Kashie Natt, LSU Alexandria is anticipated to win a third straight conference title as the top team in the 2025-26 RRAC Men's Basketball Preseason Poll. LSUA grabbed nine first-place votes to land ahead of Xavier in second and LSU Shreveport in third.

Natt was the NAIA Player of the Year and RRAC Player of the Year following an amazing senior season. EJ McQuillan, who was named first-team all-conference and averaged better than 14 points per game last year, will take a lead role now along with senior guad Jordan Decuir. Head Coach Dimario Jackson will be looking for a third straight conference title as he welcomes University of the Southwest transfers Norman Beckford (6-9 forward) and Johnny DeWalt (6-10 center).  

Xavier was picked as the runner-up with returners Seviuhn Turner, a 6-4 swingman, and Eli Pichon at guard. The Gold Rush lost most of its starting lineup but will look to fill the gaps with Dillard University (La.) transfer Bentravin Phillips, Nasir DeGruy from Abilene Christian University (Texas) and Elijah Tate from Texas State University.

LSU Shreveport, which finished third in the poll, will look to replace all five of its starters and its top seven scorers from last season. Reinforcements are on the way with transfers Emareyon McDonald from Gramgling State University (La.), Thaddeus Johnson from Columbia State University and Khi Wallace from Cumberland University (Tenn.).

Our Lady of the Lake, Texas A&M-Texarkana and Louisiana Christian rounded out the top six.

There are a total of 12 teams competing for the RRAC title this season with the addition of the University of North Texas-Dallas.

The RRAC Men's Basketball Tournament will have an altered format this year for the eight qualifiers. The top four seeds will host first round games with the winners of those games advancing to the semifinals and championship game to be held in Alexandria, La.

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Head Coach Darion Brown sat down with us to share his thoughts on the preseason rankings and the upcoming 2025-26 campaign.

 "This preseason was good for us, we learned a ton about each other while continuing to build stronger relationships. We faced hard, with the understanding that winning is going to be harder. A bunch of our guys decided to come back and we went out and added some young men we felt could help us reach our ultimate goal! The Standard only raises for us, and since last season ended we've been adamant about getting better daily! As the rankings come out, normally we get about 3-4 teams in the national tourney. But, I love the culture of young men we're building, and we'll embrace tough. Also, as the season approaches we look forward to proving us right, night in and night out. The rankings tend to work itself out!"

The Eagles return First Team All-Conference selection Deovaunta Williams, who averaged 14.1 points, 1.3 assists, and shot 47% from the field and 33.6% from beyond the arc last season. Jyrin Sowell, the 2024 RRAC Freshman of the Year, also returns after averaging 6.4 assists per game and shooting 58.6% from the floor. Daryl Houston and Payton Chism round out the list of key returners for the Eagles.

While the team lost a few key contributors from last season, the Eagles have brought in several talented additions for the 2025-26 campaign. Jarren Cook, a graduate student from Dallas, Texas, joins the program as a transfer from UT-Arlington, and Marques Sales, a 6'7" senior from Dallas, transfers in from Westcliff University, where he averaged 8.3 points and shot 59.6% from the field last season.

The Eagles will open their season at home on November 4th, hosting Philander Smith at the Patterson Student Center. Tip-off is set for 6:30 p.m

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Voting was conducted by the conference's head coaches. Results of the poll are shown below with points calculated through a 12-11-10-9-8-7-6-5-4-3-2-1 format with first-place votes appearing in parentheses.