BOSTON, Mass. (October 17, 2025) – Emerson College has been picked to finish fourth in the upcoming New England Women's and Men's Athletic Conference (NEWMAC) men's basketball season in the Conference's preseason coaches poll the Conference announced today.
Emerson is slotted in fourth in the poll which sees four different programs receive first place votes from the NEWMAC's nine head coaches. Defending regular season champions Worcester Polytechnic Institute is selected to repeat their title from a year ago and received three first place votes, followed by Babson College with two first place votes in second place in the poll. Defending NEWMAC Tournament Champions Clark University is picked third with three first place votes, with Emerson fourth and MIT fifth with the remaining first place vote. Springfield College is sixth, United States Coast Guard Academy seventh, Wheaton College eighth and Salve Regina University ninth to round out the preseason poll.
Emerson head coach Bill Curley, in his 12th year at the helm, returns 13 letterwinners, including four starters from his 2024-25 team that finished 13-14 overall, including 7-9 in the NEWMAC to finish tied for fourth in the final regular season standings with Springfield. The Lions hosted and knocked off the Pride in the NEWMAC quarterfinals, 67-50, before falling to No. 14-ranked and top-seeded WPI in the semifinals. Curley also welcomes five newcomers to the mix.
Senior center Linus Helmold, an All-NEWMAC second team selection last winter leads the list of returnees for Emerson. He ranked third among NEWMAC leaders with his team-high 7.5 rebounds per game, while adding 11.4 points on 54.1-percent shooting and ranking sixth in the Conference with a blocked shot per game.
Senior Jacob Armant and junior Guillermo Gasset Ruiz are also returning starters for Emerson. Armant contributed 12.0 points, 3.6 rebounds and 2.4 assists in 31.4 minutes per game last season, while Gasset Ruiz chipped in 7.1 points on 47.9-percent shooting, including 42.2% from three-point range, 4.1 rebounds and a steal per game. Rounding out the Lions returning starters is graduate student Ashur Gardiner after posting 4.3 points and 4.2 rebounds last season.
Emerson opens its 2025-26 season with three-straight home games on Boylston Street, starting against Salem State University on Tuesday, November 11, on Hank Smith Court at Bobbi Brown and Steven Plofker Gymnasium at noon. The Lions host Western Connecticut State University on November 14 at 6 p.m., with Connecticut College following on Smith Court on November 16, at 2 p.m. Emerson opens NEWMAC play at Coast Guard on Wednesday, December 3, at 5:30 p.m., with the Lions first home Conference game three days later against Wheaton College on Saturday, December 6, at 3 p.m.
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