2026-27 Gared-NAIA Men's Basketball Coaches' Top 25 Preseason Poll - Oct. 21, 2026
October 21, 2026
KANSAS CITY, Mo. – Three Frontier Conference men's basketball teams received national recognition in the 2026-27 Gared-NAIA Men's Basketball Coaches' Preseason Top 25 Poll, announced Wednesday by the national office.
Rocky Mountain (Mont.) headlines the Frontier Conference representatives with a No. 4 national ranking, while Bellevue (Neb.) and Montana Tech received votes outside the Top 25.
The Battlin' Bears enter the 2026-27 season following a historic campaign that saw them finish with a 31-4 overall record and capture both the Frontier Conference regular-season and postseason tournament championships.
Under head coach Danny Neville, Rocky Mountain established program records for overall victories (31), conference wins (20) and longest winning streak (21). The Battlin' Bears advanced to the quarterfinals of the 2026 NAIA Men's Basketball National Championship.
Bellevue and Montana Tech were among the 26 additional programs receiving votes in the preseason national poll.
Both programs qualified for the 2026 NAIA Men's Basketball National Championship. Bellevue advanced to the Round of 16, while Montana Tech reached the Round of 32.
Montana Tech finished last season with a 23-9 overall record and enters the upcoming campaign seeking its sixth consecutive NAIA national tournament appearance.
Rocky Mountain was recently selected as the favorite to win the 2026-27 Frontier Conference men's basketball championship, collecting 10 first-place votes and 119 points in the league's preseason coaches' poll. Bellevue and Montana Tech tied for second with 100 points and one first-place vote each.
Grace (Ind.) claimed the No. 1 national preseason ranking after receiving 14 first-place votes. Defending national champion Freed-Hardeman (Tenn.) followed at No. 2 with four first-place votes, while Arizona Christian earned the remaining first-place vote and the No. 3 ranking.
Indiana Wesleyan rounded out the national top five at No. 5.
The 2026-27 NAIA men's basketball season begins Thursday, with Frontier Conference teams preparing for a 22-game league schedule featuring 11 home and 11 road contests starting in mid-November.
The Frontier Conference postseason tournament is scheduled for Feb. 26-March 1, 2027, at the Butte Civic Center in Butte, Mont. The league will receive two automatic berths to the NAIA Men's Basketball National Championship.
The next NAIA Men's Basketball Coaches' Top 25 Poll is scheduled for Nov. 11.