BOWLING GREEN, Ky. – The Freed-Hardeman Lions stuck to their #2 ranking in the first NAIA Men's Basketball Coaches' Top 25 of 2026, the national office announced Wednesday.

The Lions most recently won their first two Mid-South Conference contests of the season, first besting #18 Georgetown (Ky.) and then taking down #8 Cumberlands (Ky.). Freshman Rodney Henderson was just awarded MSC Defensive Player of the Week with his six steals across those two contests.

Falling from #3, the #8 Cumberlands Patriots have lost two consecutive conference match-ups, falling to the Bethel (Tenn.) Wildcats and then the Lions as mentioned above. The #18 Georgetown Tigers slipped as well, coming in two spots lower than the previous poll. Their only loss stemming from the aforementioned battle with the Lions. The Tigers have recently defeated the Bethel Wildcats by four points.

Grace (Ind.) sustained their place at #1 with 18 first-place votes and 539 voting points. Bethel (Ind.) jumped up to third with 460 voting points, Oklahoma Wesleyan was fourth with 459 points, and Ave Maria (Fla.) came in with 418 points

The fifth regular-season poll is set to be released Wednesday, January 28.

Poll Methodology

• The national poll is for publicity purposes only and does not influence the selection process for national championship consideration.
• A panel of head coaches representing each conference and the Continental Athletic Conference (Independents) votes in the poll.
• The Top 25 teams are selected using a points-based system: 
  • 30 points for a 1st-place vote, 29 for 2nd, 28 for 3rd, and so on.
• The highest and lowest rankings received by each team are discarded before final tallying.
• Teams receiving only one point are not listed as “receiving votes.”
• For the Preseason Poll, there is no "previous ranking" column since it is the initial poll and differs from the prior rating system.