Men's Basketball | 10/27/2025 12:05:00 PM

Last year, the Saint Francis men's basketball team was tabbed to finish tied for last place in the NEC Men's Basketball Preseason Poll before finishing fourth in the regular season and winning three games in March to claim its second NEC Tournament title in program history. If the Red Flash is going to run it back and win its second consecutive title, the team will have to make another historic run from the bottom of the preseason poll after being selected seventh in the 2025 iteration from the league's coaches. 

LIU, who Saint Francis defeated in the NEC Semifinals last season, is the unanimous preseason favorite, while CCSU, the team the Red Flash defeated in the NEC Championship Game, has been tabbed second. Stonehill, Mercyhurst, FDU, Chicago State, Saint Francis, Wagner, Le Moyne, and New Haven rounded out the 10-team poll.

Saint Francis returns four scholarshop players (seven overall) from its championship team, including senior Chris Moncrief, who helped the Red Flash go 8-3 in the final 11 games of the season. Moncrief averaged 10.0 points per game in that stretch and secured the steal in the waning seconds of the game against the Blue Devils to clinch the first title in 34 years for the Loretto program.

Redshirt senior Skylar Wicks has also received significant social media attention, ranking second among league transfers. Wicks has appeared in 46 games, with 29 starts, at the NCAA Division I level, averaging 9.9 points and 4.9 rebounds per game at Missouri State (2020-21), Incarnate Word (2023-24), and UTSA (2024-25). He registered 29 points against Texas with Incarnate Word. 

Redshirt junior Gestin Liberis returns for the 2025-26 season after missing last year due to an injury. Liberis averaged 5.6 points and 3.7 rebounds per game in his sophomore campaign. The redshirt junior registered 10+ points six times that season, including three in his last four tilts.

Redshirt senior Cam Tweedy also joins the team in 2025-26 after being a member of FDU's men's basketball team for the last three seasons. Tweedy was a key contributor to the Knights' NCAA Tournament success in 2022-23, posting 10 points and six rebounds in a 63-58 upset win over top-ranked Purdue in the first round of the NCAA Tournament on March 17, 2023. FDU was picked seventh in that preseason poll, the same poll position as the Red Flash in 2025-26. The Knights lost to Merrimack in the NEC Championship Game that season, but went dancing because Merrimack was still going through its Division I reclassification and wasn't eligible for the NCAA Tournament.

Ten times in the last 38 years has the preseason favorite won the NEC regular season: 1994-95, 1997-98, 2004-05, 2005-06, 2011-12, 2014-15, 2018-19, 2022-23, 2023-24, 2024-25. Five times in that span, the preseason favorite has won the NEC Tournament: 1995-96, 1998-99, 2011-12, 2012-13, 2022-23. In addition, teams picked to win the league have finished at the end of the standings twice (2006-07, 2020-21) and 10th (2003-04). Saint Francis became the first team to be selected eighth in the preseason poll to win the NEC Tournament last season.

This season marks the 35th anniversary of the 1991 NEC Championship team, the first NEC title in school history.

Saint Francis begins its first season under head coach Luke McConnell at Oklahoma on Monday, November 8. Game time is 8:30 p.m. on SEC Plus.