The Great Midwest Athletic Conference has released its 2026-27 men's basketball coaches' preseason poll, and Ashland University has been chosen to be right in the mix for a conference championship this winter.
In the poll revealed on Tuesday (Oct. 20) afternoon, the Eagles are in the No. 3 spot in the 12-team league.
"This year's team is very talented, but extremely young. It will be fun to watch them develop," said Ashland head coach
John Ellenwood, entering his 18
th season at the Eagle helm. "The league will be tough top-to-bottom once again. The preseason polls will not be where the teams finish. We need to be ready for another year of G-MAC battles."
At the top of the poll are preseason favorite Walsh (108 voting points, five first-place votes), No. 2 Lake Erie (106 voting points, five first-place votes), and Ashland (97 voting points, one first-place vote). The final first-place vote went to No. 5 Kentucky Wesleyan.
In 2025-26, the Eagles went 20-11 overall and 13-7 in the Great Midwest, qualified for a conference tournament for the 12
th straight season and went to the NCAA Division II playoffs.
Ashland won the Great Midwest Tournament in 2023, and has six regular-season and tournament conference championships in program history.
The Eagles return one full-time starter from a season ago in sophomore guard
Jason Henlon (4.5 ppg., 3.1 rpg., 1.9 apg., 1.2 spg., 51.2 FG%), as well as junior forward
Jason Moore (11.3 ppg., 4.3 rpg., 62.4 FG%, 76.2 FT%), who started 15 of 30 games in 2025-26. Also coming back after seeing significant time off the bench a season ago are sophomore guards
Max Dawson (9.7 ppg., 1.8 rpg., 48.0 FG%, 39.4 3FG%, 72.7 FT%) and
Beau Siegfried (3.4 ppg., 1.6 rpg., 1.9 apg., 85.7 FT%), and sophomore forward
Trent Minor (2.2 ppg., 1.3 rpg., 70.0 FG%).
Ashland will open the new campaign on Nov. 9 at 7:30 p.m. at Wheeling, then come home to play two games in its four-team tournament on Nov. 13-14.
2026-27 GREAT MIDWEST ATHLETIC CONFERENCE MEN'S BASKETBALL COACHES' PRESEASON POLL
1. Walsh – 108 points (5 first-place votes)
2. Lake Erie – 106 points (5 first-place votes)
3. ASHLAND UNIVERSITY – 97 points (1 first-place vote)
4. Findlay – 93 points
5. Kentucky Wesleyan – 82 points (1 first-place vote)
6. Hillsdale – 76 points
7. Northwood – 63 points
8. Thomas More – 53 points
9. Cedarville – 50 points
10. Malone – 27 points
11. Tiffin – 21 points
12. Ohio Dominican – 16 points
