ARLINGTON, Texas – California Baptist was tabbed as the preseason favorite in the Western Athletic Conference (WAC) Men’s Basketball Coaches Poll for the upcoming season. All seven WAC head coaches cast votes for the 2025-26 preseason predicted order of finish and all-conference awards that were released on Tuesday.
California Baptist claimed five first-place votes to finish ahead of defending regular season champion Utah Valley (one first-place vote) in the WAC preseason coaches poll. Abilene Christian, UT Arlington (one first-place vote) and Tarleton State rounded out the top five teams in the preseason rankings.
CBU graduate guard
Dominique Daniels Jr. was named the unanimous 2025-26 WAC Preseason Player of the Year by the WAC coaches after landing on the All-WAC First Team last season. Daniels led the conference with 19.6 points per game and 196 made field goals in 29 starts (17.4 PPG, 75.8 FT% in 13 conference starts) for the Lancers in 2024-25.
Daniels was joined on the 2025-26 preseason all-conference team by Abilene Christian senior forward
Bradyn Hubbard (13.1 PPG, 6.3 RPG in conference play in 2024-25), UT Arlington senior guard
Raysean Seamster (12.1 PPG, 5.8 RPG in conference play in 2024-25), Utah Tech senior forward
Ethan Potter (5.3 PPG, 3.7 RPG in conference play at Utah Valley in 2024-25) and Utah Valley redshirt junior guard
Trevan Leonhardt (conference-high 5.2 AST/G and 3.4 AST/TO ratio in 2024-25).
2025-26 WAC MEN’S BASKETBALL PRESEASON HONORS (voted by head coaches)
2025-26 WAC Men’s Basketball Preseason Coaches Poll
| Rank |
Team (1st-Place Votes) |
Points |
| 1. |
California Baptist (5) |
33 |
| 2. |
Utah Valley (1) |
29 |
| 3. |
Abilene Christian |
27 |
| 4. |
UT Arlington (1) |
22 |
| 5. |
Tarleton State |
19 |
| 6. |
Utah Tech |
9 |
| 7. |
Southern Utah |
8 |
2025-26 WAC Preseason Player of the Year
Dominique Daniels Jr., Grad, G, California Baptist
2025-26 Preseason All-WAC Team
Bradyn Hubbard, Sr., F, Abilene Christian
Dominique Daniels Jr., Grad, G, California Baptist
Raysean Seamster, Sr., F, UT Arlington
Ethan Potter, Sr., F, Utah Tech
Trevan Leonhardt, R-Jr., G, Utah Valley
- WAC -