Grand Canyon on verge of being a Top 25 men’s basketball program

Grand Canyon built its men’s basketball roster by being generous with NIL money and now appears on the verge of becoming a Top 25 men’s basketball program.

The revamped Lopes are loaded and hungry to get back to the NCAA Tournament after missing out in their first year in the Mountain West. They picked up two votes in the AP Preseason Top 25 poll.

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Matt Norlander of CBS Sports speculated, in an X post, that GCU’s estimated NIL budget for the men’s basketball roster is $12 million, a substantial amount for a mid-major.

The Lopes will know more about themselves at home on Tuesday, Oct. 27, when they face Western New Mexico in an exhibition. The first official game is Nov. 2 at Global Credit Union Arena against Texas Southern. Both games are 7 p.m.

GCU returns four starters, including Mountain West First Team guard Jaden Henley, who is tied to the California court case granting a fifth year of college eligibility for fifth-year seniors.

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Oklahoma center Duke Brennan, who played two years at GCU, a year at Arizona State and a year at Villanova, recently received a preliminary injunction from a California court that protects his eligibility for now. Henley falls into the same situation. This prolongs Brennan’s lawsuit with the NCAA to grant a fifth year of eligibility.

GCU was looking pretty good for this season even before Henley returned to college after testing the NBA waters. He was not taken in the NBA draft, but he signed to play for the Detroit Pistons in the NBA Summer League before coming back to GCU.

“Grand Canyon prepared me very well for the (NBA draft) process,” Henley said. “It’s going to another level, playing with the best players in the world. I feel like I got prepared to play.”

Utah State Aggies Mason Falslev (12) and Zach Keller (32) block GCU Lopes Jaden Henley (10) during a game at Global Credit Union Arena in Phoenix, on Jan. 17, 2026.

Henley realized in the summer that he needs to improve his 3-point shooting. He shot 26.8% from behind…

Source link : https://sports.yahoo.com/articles/grand-canyon-verge-being-top-201546867.html

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Publish date : 2026-10-26 20:15:00

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