CCAA Preseason Poll Release

LOS ANGELES -- Cal State LA's men's basketball team has been picked to finish fifth in the California Collegiate Athletic Association in a preseason poll of coaches released by the conference on Wednesday.

The Golden Eagles are coming off an exciting finish to the 2024-25 regular season that saw them roar back from a big halftime deficit to beat Cal State East Bay and claim the sixth and final spot in the CCAA Tournament. The Golden Eagles were 12-17 last season overall and 10-12 in the CCAA.

Defending conference champion and national runner-up Cal State Dominguez Hills collected 11 of the 12 first-place votes and 141 points and is favored to repeat as champion. Cal Poly Pomona is second with 119 points, edging Cal State San Bernardino, which is third with 117 points. Chico State is fourth with 108 points and Cal State LA picked up the 12th first-place vote and 96 points. Cal State East Bay is sixth with 91 points.

Stanislaus State (71 points), Cal Poly Humboldt (53), Cal State San Marcos (43), Cal State Monterey Bay (41), San Francisco State (35) and conference newcomer UC Merced (21) round out the poll.

Cal State LA, the CCAA Tournament Champions and NCAA West Regional No. 1 seed in 2024, will have a largely new look in 2025-26 as all five starters from last year's team concluded their Golden Eagle careers.

The Golden Eagles have six players returning, including Isaiah Fields, who was a key member of the 2023-24 championship squad before missing the 2024-25 season. Fields appeared in all 32 games in 2023-24 and averaged 6.6 points and 2.5 rebounds per contest.

Sophomore Devin Ringer returns after starting three games in 2024-25 while averaging 6.0 points per game and redshirt sophomore Connor Scales is back after appearing in all 28 games last season and averaging 4.3 points per game.

Michael Pearson Jr., Martin Zarzuela and Damarion Pouncil also return from last year's team.

Cal State LA is also encouraged by a nine-player recruiting class that includes JJ Howard, Khemanni Davis, Sam Ibeh, Nigel Dickens, Donovan Vickers, Kaiden Fine, Brase Dottin, Jordan Hansen and Deraje Agbaosi.

Cal State LA will open its 2024-25 season with a home game against Biola as part of the CCAA/PacWest Challenge on Friday, Nov. 14, at noon.