OXFORD —The Shawnee State University men’s basketball program, under first-year head coach Fred Lymas, was selected to finish third in the conference rundown for the upcoming 2025-26 season —in the annual River States Conference Preseason Coaches Poll, which was released on Tuesday afternoon by conference officials.
Shawnee State, which picked up 98 points and three first-place votes, finished third —only behind Indiana-Kokomo (103 points, two first-place votes) and Rio Grande, which collected 111 points and six first-place votes to lead the conference poll.
Indiana-East and Indiana-Southeast, which rounded out the top-five with 88 and 87 points respectively, sit fourth and fifth.
That completes a tight order at the top of the conference —that sees the top five teams separated by just 24 points in all.
Saint Mary-of-the-Woods — the 2024-25 RSC regular season and conference tournament champion which advanced to the NAIA National Tournament’s final site at Municipal Arena by virtue of advancing to the NAIA National Round of 16 —sits sixth in the poll with 68 points, and the remaining first-place vote in conference play.
Meanwhile, consistently solid programs West Virginia Tech and Midway linger back in seventh and eighth with 63 and 60 points respectively.
Brescia (41 pulls), Oakland City (38 notches), Kentucky Christian (19 points) and Indiana-Columbus (16 tallies) round out the poll by claiming the eighth through 12th spots.
During the 2024-25 season, Shawnee State —which started the season 5-10— competed a worst-to-first rise as the Bears rallied by winning 11 of their final 14 games to win the RSC East Division Championship on the final day of the regular season, defeating former RSC member Alice Lloyd (Ky.) 79-70 on the road to win the conference outright.
Shawnee State went 8-1 in games decided by single-digits during that 11-3 stretch to claim the RSC East outright.
This season, Shawnee State will be led by first-year head coach Lymas —who has more than 15 years of assistant coaching experience at the NCAA Division I, NCAA Division II, NAIA and USCAA levels of college basketball.
Chandler Fointno returns for his third season as the lead assistant inside the program.
Bryce Beavers, a talented and hardworking hand like Fointno, completes the coaching staff.
The full roster and an official schedule release will be dropped next week as part of the RSC’s Media Day, which will take place on Tuesday for the men’s basketball program.
2025-26 River States Conference Preseason Coaches Poll
1. Rio Grande (111 points, 6 first place votes) — 2024-25: 19-10 (10-6 RSC)
2. IU Kokomo (103 points, 2 first place votes) —2024-25: 21-9 (11-5 RSC)
3. Shawnee State (98 points, 3 first place votes) —2024-25: 16-13 (11-5 RSC); RSC East Division Champions
4. IU East (88 points) — 2024-25: 16-13 (10-6 RSC)
5. IU Southeast (87 points) — 2024-25: 13-18 (6-10 RSC); RSC Conference Tournament Runner-Up, NAIA National Tournament OR Appearance)
6. St. Mary-of-the-Woods (68 points, 1 first place vote) — 2024-25: 28-6 (13-3 RSC); RSC Regular Season and Conference Tournament Champions, NAIA National Round of 16 Appearance
7. WVU Tech (63 points) —2024-25: 16-11 (7-9 RSC)
8. Midway (60 points) — 2024-25: 10-15 (7-9 RSC)
9. Brescia (41 points) — 2024-25: 9-17 (6-10 RSC)
10. Oakland City (38 points) — 2024-25: 7-21 (4-12 RSC)
11. Kentucky Christian (19 points) —2024-25: 5-23 (new member to River States Conference in 2025-26)
12. IU Columbus (16 points) —2024-25: 2-26 (1-15 RSC)
Additional
For more information on the Shawnee State men’s basketball program, visit the Bears on Instagram at https://www.instagram.com/ssuhoops/ or on X at https://x.com/ShawneeStateMBB.
