After one of the most successful seasons in program history, the Central Connecticut State men’s basketball team enters the 2025-26 campaign with some high expectations –– and a few new questions.
The Blue Devils finished 25-7 overall and 14-2 in conference play last season, capturing the regular-season title for the second year in a row and recording their best year under head coach Patrick Sellers.
“It’s fun to be a part of it. I went to school here –– this is home for me, Sellers said. “It’s been a lot of fun coming to work every day, working with guys and watching them grow.”
A loss in the Northeast Conference championship to Saint Francis (Pa.) kept the Blue Devils out of the NCAA tournament for the 18th straight year. But this season, a new-look Central squad will try to change that.
“It’s a new season –– 10 new guys –– it’s a new team. Everyone’s excited,” Sellers said.
Central opens the season against Vermont State Johnson, a Division III school that finished 11-17 last year. The Blue Devils faced them last season and cruised to a 117-68 victory with Darin Smith Jr. leading all scorers with 23 points in the matchup.
With plenty of new faces, the Blue Devils will look to make a statement early.
Along with Vermont State Johnson, Central will face another Division III program, Johnson and Wales (R.I.), on Nov. 7. The Blue Devils hope to make a statement in their two upcoming games.
Those games lead to a tough nonconference schedule, featuring road matchups at Seton Hall, Rutgers and Boston College –– three programs from power conferences that will test CCSU’s depth right away.
“We want to win. The last couple years we’ve played teams in the bigger leagues. We’ve competed with them,” Sellers said. “And we’re going to give everything we got.”
Between those headline games, CCSU will also take on several mid-major opponents, including Quinnipiac, UMass, Sacred Heart, Fairfield and Northwestern.
Central’s identity this season will be unselfish basketball, with the pure goal of winning games and building chemistry with one another. Sellers wants to set the standard of “we, not me” basketball.
He measures success beyond the scoreboard by their teamwork, and their wins are a byproduct of what they do as a family and as a program.
The Blue Devils placed second in the NEC Preseason Coaches’ Poll, with LIU unanimously selected to finish first.
The NEC is projecting a big jump from Smith, who was named to the 2025-26 NEC Men’s Basketball Preseason All-Conference Team. Last season, the 6-foot-7 forward averaged 6.8 points and three rebounds per game while shooting a scorching 46.3% from beyond the arc in only 18.1 minutes per game.
The Blue Devils need his continued growth if they want a chance to return to where they were last season.
Although much of the team is comprised of different players, with a similar schedule to last season, the team should finish around .500 with a record of 18-12. A lot of the competition they play will be close matchups, but if they can find a way to gain momentum, they’ll be a tough squad to beat.
