NEWPORT NEWS, Va. - Christopher Newport University's men's basketball team is ranked second in the nation in the annual pre-season poll from D3hoops.com. The poll was released Thursday afternoon.

The Captains, who were 25-6 and advanced to the National Semifinals last year, return a group of 17 players and four starters from last season's squad. CNU is now led by first-year Head Coach Jarren Dyson, a former assistant who has returned to take over the program. Among those returning is guard Toa Hollenbeck, now a senior, who led the Captains in scoring last year with 18.9 points per game. Hollenbeck has been a first team All-Conference performer in each of his first three seasons.

Christopher Newport's season will begin on Saturday, November 7th, when CNU hosts Penn State Altoona at the Freeman Center. Game time is set for 7:00 p.m. The opener will be followed by a Top 10 showdown on Wednesday, November 11th, when the Captains travel to Ashland, Va.,to take on seventh-ranked Randolph-Macon.  The Captains are ranked second behind only fellow Coast-To-Coast Athletic Conference member Mary Washington. The Eagles are the defending National Champions.

The D3hoops.com Top 25 is voted on by a panel of 25 coaches, Sports Information Directors and media members from across the country. The poll will be published weekly starting November 23, 2026. Points are awarded on a 25-24-23-22-etc. basis. This is the 28th season that D3hoops.com has issued a Top 25 poll.

The complete poll:

#	School (No. 1 votes)	W-L	Pts.
1	Mary Washington (21)	30-3	607
2	Christopher Newport (2)	25-6	569
3	Hood	26-4	484
4	Emory (1)	27-4	472
5	Gustavus Adolphus	27-3	438
6	Illinois Wesleyan	26-5	430
7	Randolph-Macon	27-4	383
8	UW-Stevens Point (1)	19-8	376
9	Wesleyan	23-7	331
10	Washington U.	20-8	328
11	Trinity (Conn.)	29-3	313
12	Trinity (Texas)	22-7	307
13	Elmhurst	19-9	300
14	Tufts	23-6	289
15	Roanoke	23-7	286
16	Claremont-Mudd-Scripps	23-5	260
17	St. Thomas (Texas)	29-2	243
18	UW-La Crosse	24-7	206
19	Babson	22-7	203
20	Endicott	28-2	197
21	Amherst	19-8	168
22	Johns Hopkins	20-8	107
23	New York University	18-9	94
24	Chicago	24-5	80
25	Willamette	16-12	74

Others receiving votes: Maine-Farmington 73; Montclair State 57; John Carroll 53; Olivet 53; UW-Whitewater 45; Washington & Jefferson 40; St. Joseph's (Maine) 37; Otterbein 25; Cortland 20; Rhodes 18; UW-Platteville 17; St. John's 16; Redlands 16; Mount Union 13; Grinnell 11; Denison 10; UW-Oshkosh 10; WPI 9; Catholic 7; Mary Hardin-Baylor 6; Stevens 6; Vassar 6; Hampden-Sydney 5;