2025-26 HoriZone Roundtable #HLMBB Preseason Poll

October 6, 2025

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image_2025-09-25_113845365 — Photo courtesy of Milwaukee Athletics

Change is a constant. That’s been true in the Horizon League, especially in the advent of the era of the transfer portal and NIL. And every year, it’s a race to see which team can take advantage of its respective situation and rise to the top.

And one of the teams that has been consistent in the previous three seasons is Milwaukee under the tutelage of Bart Lundy. And based on what the Panthers have brought back, along with some big pick-ups in the portal, the HoriZone Roundtable staff has selected them as the preseason pick to win the Horizon League.

Second place in the preseason poll, surprisingly enough, turned out to be a tie for us, as defending champion Robert Morris and Youngstown State, the team the Colonials faced in the Horizon League tournament championship game, share a piece of the runner-up spot.

As consistently noted by our recently-departed podcast co-host Matt Dudek, Oakland has never finished worse than sixth in the conference, and the preseason poll certainly expects that trend to continue, with the Golden Grizzlies picks to finish fourth. Fifth place goes to Purdue Fort Wayne, with a newly-tooled roster mixed with some proven veteran talent.

In sixth place is the new-look Cleveland State Vikings, with Rob Summers taking over for Daniyal Robinson, while Detroit Mercy, under second-year head coach Mark Montgomery, is slated in the seventh spot.

Northern Kentucky, which had a comparatively down year for them last season, has been picked eighth. And good news, Green Bay fans. We didn’t pick the Phoenix to finish last. Sure, they’re slotted in ninth, but still…

Tenth place in the preseason poll goes to Wright State, and in the last spot in our picks is IU Indy, which has Ben Howlett taking the reins for this upcoming campaign.

Top to bottom, though, this year’s edition of the Horizon League is poised to be one of the most competitive in years, and don’t be surprised if some of these preseason picks get turned on their heads.

Rank	Team	Points
1.	Milwaukee	76
2. (tie)	Robert Morris	64
2. (tie)	Youngstown State	64
4.	Oakland	60
5.	Purdue Fort Wayne	51
6.	Cleveland State	48
7.	Detroit Mercy	42
8.	Northern Kentucky	41
9.	Green Bay	33
10.	Wright State	28
11.	IU Indy	21

Milwaukee’s selection as the HoriZone Roundtable’s top pick in the preseason poll comes on the strength of both its returning players and incoming transfers. Faizon Fields is expected to have a huge impact up front, returning for his final year, while a potential barrage of offense is coming the Panthers’ way, led by Amar Augillard. The Fresno State transfer and former national juco player of the year is expected to be a major scoring threat, and couple of other key incoming pieces, including Isiah Dorceus, Seth Hubbard and Chandler Jackson, not to mention returnees John Lovelace, Jr. and Danilo Jovanovich, this may finally be the year that Milwaukee returns to the top of the heap and, in turn, to the NCAA Tournament.

The defending champion, Robert Morris, will certainly have its work cut out if it wants to go for back-to-back crowns. Ryan Prather, Jr., is the lone scholarship player to return, but as Andy Toole has done on multiple occasions, he’s tapped the transfer market to make up for what he lost in the off-season. That starts with North Carolina A&T transfer Nikos Chitikoudis, whose presence up front will create headaches for opponents, and continues with Desean Goode, who had an All-Freshman team performance while at IU Indy last year. A pair of non-D1 transfers, Cam Wilds and Albert Vargas, along with a host of juco and D1 transfer, will give Toole the opportunity to make a repeat championship a reality.

It’s been the trend at Youngstown State to retain a couple of key pieces from the previous campaign and hit the transfer portal hard. And such is the case this season, with holdovers Jason Nelson and Cris Carroll, along with redshirt junior Immanuel Zorgvol, leading the way. As for transfers, Vlad Salaridze and Bryson Dawkins appear to be the players on everyone’s radar, though Rich Rolf and Drew King, among other new faces, have a chance to put the Penguins in that long-awaited position of making the tourney for the first time in school history.

When it comes to Oakland, all eyes are on Buru Naivalurua, who’s back for another year and will be the anchor for the Golden Grizzlies up front. Nassim Mashhour, who broke out for Oakland late last season, also returns and will look to make more waves. Brody Robinson, Michael Houge and Isaac Garrett lead the group of new faces joining the Grizz this year, and all three will be looked upon to make an immediate impact.

Purdue Fort Wayne is back in a place it was two seasons ago, when the Mastodons needed to replace their backcourt. Corey Hadnot, the long-time stalwart on the Purdue Fort Wayne bench, will be called on to shoulder the load, but he won’t be alone, as transfers DeAndre Craig and Mikale Stevenson, among others, will be right alongside him. Maximus Nelson also returns and, in all likelihood, back in his role as a sharpshooter. The Mastodons did get a boost up front, as Milwaukee transfer Darius Duffy has arrived to make a big contribution.

When Daniyal Robinson left Cleveland State, so did the rest of the team. That’s not to say that Rob Summers didn’t immediately retool the roster. Ice Emery, Dayan Nessah and former Green Bay player Foster Wonders lead a group of transfers eager to move the Vikings from a defense-oriented squad to an offensive juggernaut similar to what Summers put in place as an assistant at Missouri last season.

Of all the Horizon League teams, Detroit Mercy is the one that has the most returnees back in the mix. Orlando Lovejoy coming back was huge for the Titans and should be the lynchpin for the offense. Legend Geeter also comes back, and Nate Johnson, TJ Nadeau and Ryan Kalambay, who all saw significant action in their freshman year, will also be on hand to give Detroit Mercy a boost. Jared Lary, whose season was cut short by an injury last year, is back to make the previous season a memory. The swath of holdovers meant that the Titans didn’t need to spend much time on new faces, but the incoming group does include juco transfer London Maiden, who will be key in the frontcourt, and a host of freshmen led by guard Lance Stone.

Throughout the Darrin Horn era, Northern Kentucky has historically had a solid core of returning players to buoy the Norse into the new season. However, NKU finds itself in the rare position of having far more exits than usual, courtesy of graduation and the transfer portal. That will leave a lot of work for LJ Wells and Dan Gherezgher, the lone players with experience for the Norse, to do. To counter the losses, Horn delved into the non-D1 ranks, where he’d found success before, and grabbed Tae Dozier, Shawn Nelson and Kael Robinson. Donovan Oday, the McNeese State transfer, will also be looked upon for help as well.

By all accounts, Doug Gottlieb’s opening campaign at Green Bay was a nightmare, with injuries, midseason departures and a lack of rebounding making things difficult for the Phoenix. This season, though, should be significantly better, with Marcus Hall, Preston Ruedinger, Mac Wrecke and CJ O’Hara back for another year. Gottlieb also dove into the juco ranks for talent, snagging Josh Hines, LeBron Thomas and Ramel Bethea, and non-D1, bringing in Justin Allen, Dontrell Hewlett and Rob Stroud. Green Bay added some international flavor as well, welcoming Maruan Cicic from Montenegro and Vukasin Todorovic from Slovenia.

In terms of overall experience, Wright State’s roster is one of the youngest in the conference. Clint Sargent, though, does return Solomon Callaghan, Logan Woods and Andrea Holden, all of which chipped in for the Raiders, along with Michael Imariagbe, player with the most experience on the team. That will leave transfers Bryan Etumnu and Sam Alamutu to give Wright State some older talent that will be critical this season.

Before May, the biggest question for IU Indy was how Paul Corsaro would build on a year that saw the most wins for the Jaguars since 2019. But all that changed with his ouster, and Ben Howlett now leads the charge for IU Indy, along with a brand-new roster. That includes a handful of transfers from Howlett’s old school, West Liberty, along with multiple other non-D1 transfers. Jaxon Edwards and Micah Davis, a pair of D1 transfers who remained during the coaching change, will also be in the mix, as Howlett’s plan to implement the system that made him successful in Division II in Indianapolis.