Wheeling, W. Va. - All 11 Men's Basketball teams from across the Mountain East Conference were represented on Tuesday at the 2025 MEC Men's Basketball Media Day. In conjunction with the event, the conference released their annual MEC Men's Basketball Preseason Poll, as voted on by the conference's head coaches. The Wheeling University Men's Basketball team earned the #8 seed in this year's poll, earning 39 points from the conference coaches.
The Cardinals improved their record for the third straight season in 2024-2025, finishing 11-18 overall and 6-14 in MEC play. After falling in their opening weekend, the Cardinals got an early season boost when they defeated #10 CAL-U 89-83. However, as they hit conference play, they would start out 1-9 and come the middle of January they were on the outside looking in for the conference tournament. On January 29th, they would pick up a 77-70 win over the University of Charleston that propelled them back into the playoff picture with a four-game winning streak that got them back into the playoff picture. They would end up earning the #9 seed in the conference, and battled Davis & Elkins in first round action. The Cardinals would battle until the final minute, but fell 63-61 to bring their season to an end.
The Wheeling Men's Basketball program will once again be led by sixth-year Head Coach Chris Richardson, who has helped grow the program during his tenure. He has helped the team improve their win total over each of the last two seasons and has coached five players to All-Conference honors during that span. Most recently, he helped former Cardinal Sean Ealy earn First Team All-MEC honors a season ago, after averaging 18.3 PPG last season, while leading the team with 95 assists during the year. In the classroom, Richardson's teams have posted six consecutive semesters with a team GPA of 3.0 or higher, being recognized by The National Association of Basketball Coaches (NABC) in each of the last two seasons with their Team Academic Award. Assistant Men's Basketball Coach Jared Chambliss and Graduate Assistant Tyler Cheng return to his staff this season as they look to improve on last season's success.
This year's team features one of the deepest rosters that Richardson has had in his tenure, with several guys fighting for playing time on the floor. Returning to lead the Cardinals is junior Tee Harris Jr., who is the top returning scorer for the team averaging 10.2 PPG. Harris plays a key role for the Cardinals on both ends of the floor, finishing second with 6.2 Rebounds per game while holding a 47.7% mark from the floor. Alex Smith led the Cardinal's defensive effort a season ago, finishing with a team-best 44 steals and 8.9 rebounds per game. Off the bench, Caleb Murray has been the Cardinal's top option, providing a spark from three-point range. He made 37.1% of his shots from beyond the ard, sitting as Wheeling's most efficient three-point shooter throughout the season.
Leading the 2025 MEC Men's Basketball Preseason Poll are the defending MEC Champions Fairmont State University, receiving 10 first place votes and 100 points from the conference coaches. Finishing behind them was West Liberty, who received one first place vote and 88 points, while The University of Charleston finished with 78 points to take third in the poll. The rest of the 2025 MEC Men's Basketball Preseason Poll looks like this:
1. Fairmont State - (10) 100
2. West Liberty - (1) 88
3. Charleston - 78
4. Glenville State - 77
5. Concord - 60
6. West Virginia State - 56
7. Frostburg State - 48
8. Wheeling - 39
8. Davis & Elkins - 39
10. Point Park - 25
11. West Virginia Wesleyan - 10
The Wheeling University Men's Basketball team tips-off the season on Friday, November 14th, when they take on California University of Pennsylvania at the West Liberty Tip-off tournament.
