TOWSON, Md. – The Catholic men's basketball team finished in a tie for first place in this season's Landmark Conference preseason coaches poll, it was announced today. The Cardinals received three of the possible nine first place votes to finish in a tie with Drew for the top spot in the poll.

The program is coming off its fourth consecutive season with 20 or more victories after finishing 20-8 last season and earning the top seed in the Landmark Conference tournament. The Cardinals advanced to the NCAA Tournament for the third consecutive season and picked up a 71-69 victory over Western Connecticut before falling in the Second Round to Tufts. Catholic has tallied five NCAA Tournament victories over the past three seasons and they are one of just blank programs to reach that many in that span.

Head Coach Aaron Kelly enters his eighth season at the helm of the program as he comes into the season with a 121-50 record as the leader of the program. His staff welcomes aboard two new assistant coaches this season; Matt Niland and Ty Hepting. Niland comes to the program after spending last season at Edinboro and the previous as the graduate assistant at Illinois State, where the team finished 22-14 and won the CBI Championship. He also was a student-athlete at Penn State Behrend where he was a five-year member of the men's basketball team. Hepting is a 2026 graduate of the University of Maryland where he was heavily involved with the men's basketball program. His role consisted of day-to-day operations as well as being a scout team player and he was on the staff for the team's Sweet 16 run in the 2024-25 season.

The Cardinals will look to replace the contributions of four key seniors from last season with the most seasoned veteran returning being Googie Seidman. Seidman played in 28 games last season, making 24 starts, while scoring 7.2 points per game with 3.6 rebounds. He was also the team leader in three-pointers made with 53 and his 58 steals were the third-most in the conference last season. 

Among other key returners is Michael Dankert who played in 21 games over his freshman season and he led the team in rebounding with 148 (7.0) per game, while also shooting an efficient 63-percent from the field. He recorded two double-doubles last season which included a 10 point, 11 rebound performance in the First Round of the NCAA Tournament. Peter Gellene also returns after playing in 27 games during his sophomore season and averaging 7.1 points per game while making 44 percent of his shots from deep. Matthew Gorman and Ryan Pegg also return for the Cardinals, having both appeared in 20 or more contests last winter. 

The Cardinals welcome four newcomers onto the roster this season, all of which are freshman; Jack Casey, Braxton Figgs, Jason Green and Dylan Heilakka. 

The Cardinals and Rangers each finished with 72 points in the poll with Drew receiving the most first place votes with five. Scranton finished third in the poll coming in just one point behind Catholic and Drew as it received the other two first place votes. Susquehanna and Juniata rounded out the top five with 58 and 45 points respectively. 

Catholic's season opens up on Friday, November 6 at 7:30 pm in the Bear Bash Tip-Off Tournament hosted by Ursinus. The Cardinals will square off with Schreiner at Helfferich Hall.