CHADRON, Neb. – Year one of the Chris Francis era has left a positive impression on the rest of the conference, with the Eagle men's basketball program receiving one first-place vote and finishing seventh overall in the 2025-26 RMAC Men's Basketball Preseason Coaches Poll.

The seventh-place projection comes after the Eagles were picked 15th but finished eighth in 2024-25, sealing the program's third consecutive trip to the RMAC Tournament.

The poll is based on a vote of the league's 15 head coaches, who all rank the opposing 14 schools without voting for their own program.

Black Hills State is the preseason pick to win the league, receiving 10 of 15 first-place votes and 183 points overall. Colorado School of Mines, the defending league champions, are second with three first-place votes, six second-place votes and two third-place votes with 167 total points. 

Colorado Mesa received one first-place vote and the most third-place votes of any school (six), finishing third in the poll at 158 points, while UCCS (144 points) and Fort Lewis (143) were neck-and-neck to round out the top five. 

The remainder of the projected RMAC Tournament spots in the poll are filled by MSU Denver (137 points), Chadron State (102) and Colorado Christian (90). Adams State is ninth, followed by Westminster, New Mexico Highlands, CSU Pueblo, Western Colorado, Regis and South Dakota Mines. 

Including Chadron State, nine of the league's 15 schools received at least one first-place, second-place or third-place vote. 

Along with the poll, the RMAC also released a 10-player Preseason All-RMAC team, made up of the top returning players from last year's all-conference voting. Chadron State did not have a selection, due in large part to only one player who recorded minutes for last year's roster (Zach Smith) coming back to the Eagles in 2025-26. 

Black Hills State also led the way on the preseason team with three of the 10 picks, while Colorado School of Mines and Colorado Mesa each had two.

Chadron State will open the season on November 14 with the first of back-to-back games against West Texas A&M. CSC's home opener will be the following Wednesday, November 19 against the University of Mary at 1 p.m.