KANSAS CITY, Mo. – The MIAA announced its 2025-26 men's basketball preseason rankings, and MoWest is slated to finish eighth in both the coaches' and media poll.
Washburn, the defending MIAA regular season champion fresh off of a Final Four appearance, was picked as the favorite in both polls.
Griffon Men's Basketball ushers in a new era in 2025-26, as
Brooks McKowen gears up for his first season as the head coach at MoWest. Named as the seventh head in program history on March 25, McKowen joins MWSU after 12 successful seasons as the head coach at Upper Iowa.
McKowen amassed a 209-148 record and three NCAA Tournament appearances with the Peacocks.
McKowen takes over a MoWest program that's had winning seasons in four of the last six years, including an 18-13 mark in 2024-25 - the most regular season wins since 2002-03. MoWest has put together back-to-back seasons with 17 or more wins in men's basketball for the first time since the 2001-02 and 2002-03 seasons.
McKowen now hopes to guide the Griffs back to the NCAA tournament - something MoWest hasn't made it to since 2021. MoWest also seeks its first 20-win season since 2002-03.
McKowen will start this quest with an overhauled roster. MoWest graduated nine seniors from last year's team, and lost 14 of the 15 players on last year's squad overall. With that, MoWest signed 13 new players in the offseason.
The lone returner is
Devin Butler - a now senior guard from Ridgeland, South Carolina and second-year Griff who transferred in from Division I Virginia Military Institute (VMI). Butler played in 31 games last season and made one start, averaging 3.3 points and 1.3 rebounds per game.
The Griffon men start the season with the D2CCA Tip-off Classic at Civic Arena in St. Joseph with a battle against West Texas A&M on October 31.
2025-26 MIAA MEN'S BASKETBALL COACHES POLL
1. Washburn [13] – 169 points
2. Rogers State [1] – 141 points
3. Central Oklahoma – 137 points
4. Fort Hays State – 134 points
5. Pittsburg State – 127 points
6. Nebraska Kearney – 106 points
7. Central Missouri – 102 points
8. Missouri Western – 79 points
9. Northeastern State – 62 points
10. Emporia State – 59 points
11. Newman – 52 points
12. Arkansas-Fort Smith – 41 points
13. Missouri Southern – 35 points
14. Northwest Missouri – 30 points
[#] - First Place Votes
2025-26 MIAA MEN'S BASKETBALL MEDIA POLL
1. Washburn [23] – 346 points
2. Fort Hays State [1] – 297 points
3. Rogers State [1] – 286 points
4. Pittsburg State – 280 points
5. Central Oklahoma – 229 points
6. Nebraska Kearney – 211 points
7. Central Missouri – 186 points
8. Missouri Western – 169 points
9. Emporia State – 159 points
10. Northeastern State – 132 points
11. Northwest Missouri – 108 points
12. Newman – 93 points
13. Missouri Southern – 69 points
14. Arkansas-Fort Smith – 59 points
