COLONIA, N.J. – The Mercy University Men's Basketball Team has been picked to finish ninth in the East Coast Conference (ECC) Men's Basketball Preseason Coaches' Poll, as announced by the conference office earlier today. The top six teams at the end of the season qualify for the ECC Championship.

Daemen received all nine first-place votes and 81 points overall to top the poll. St. Thomas Aquinas recorded 69 points to place second in the poll. Daemen's Benjamin Bill was named Preseason Player of the Year.

Mercy went 7-18 last season and 6-10 in ECC play. The Mavericks are looking to make the ECC Championship for the first time since 2021 and make it for the first time without every team making it since 2016.

First-Year Head Coach Charles Marquardt and the Mavericks return six student-athletes from last year's team and add six newcomers. Leading the returners is senior TJ Holloway who averaged 11.6 points per game last season and led the team with 42 three-pointers. Junior Derek Long also returns after averaging 7.3 points per game a year ago.

Marquardt and the Mavericks open their 2025-26 season on Friday, November 14th when they face Holy Family at Jefferson at 6 p.m.