2026-27 W&L Men's Basketball Season Preview

Generals tabbed fifth in ODAC preseason poll

11/4/2026 2:00:00 PM

LEXINGTON, Va. -- The Old Dominion Athletic Conference released its 2026-27 Men's Basketball Preseason Poll on Wednesday and Washington and Lee took fifth place.

Randolph-Macon topped the poll with seven first-place votes and 117 points to edge Roanoke by only two points. The Maroons claimed the remaining five first-place place votes with Hampden-Sydney in third (99 pts) and Batten (84 pts) in fourth place, just two points ahead of the Blue and White.

W&L had a strong bounce-back season in 2025-26 by going 17-9 overall, a 10-win improvement from the 2024-25 campaign. They also produced a 9-7 record in conference play to earn the No. 5 seed for the ODAC Championship. The Generals landed two players in the All-ODAC teams in Connor Amorosi ‘28 (First Team) and Colin Ryan ’26 (Third Team), while then first-year Addison Newkirk made it back-to-back seasons in which the Generals had the ODAC Rookie of the Year (Amorosi, 2024-25).

The Generals are led into the 2026-27 season by 10th-year head coach Chris McHugh '09, who holds a 132-81 overall record and a mark of 83-50 in the ODAC across his first nine seasons.

2026-27 ODAC Men's Basketball Preseason Poll

Randolph-Macon College (7) 117 pts.
Roanoke College (5) 115 pts.
Hampden-Sydney College 99 pts.
Batten University 84 pts.
Washington and Lee University 82 pts.
University of Lynchburg 66 pts.
Guilford College 62 pts.
Averett University 56 pts.
Shenandoah University 40 pts.
EMU 29 pts.
Bridgewater College 27 pts.
Randolph College 15 pts.

Hear from Coach

We are excited to build upon the foundation from last season. The Class of 2026, AJ Thomas, Colin Ryan, and John Loughlin led us to a successful year. We have a lot of our core back to finish strong this season.

Head Coach Chris McHugh '09 (10th Season)

2026-27 Schedule Overview

The Generals’ 2026-27 schedule features two in-season tournaments within the first half of the season. W&L will play 12 of its 25 games in Holekamp and will have nine non-conference games and 16 ODAC contests, with 14 of the 16 coming after the turn of the new year.

NON-CONFERENCE SCHEDULE:
W&L opens the new season at the TowneBank Tip-Off Tournament at Batten University, where they will take on Maryville (Tenn.) on November 6. The winner advances to the tournament’s championship game the following day against either St. John Fisher or Batten. If the Generals play the Marlins during the TowneBank Tip-Off, it will not count towards the ODAC standings.

One week later, the Generals will head to Gettysburg, Pa., to take on the Bullets, before they play in their home opener on November 18 against nearby rival Mary Baldwin. A date with Dickinson College on November 21 then precedes the annual Thanksgiving-week matchup against Southern Virginia, which will take place in Buena Vista on November 24.

After their first two ODAC games of the season, the Generals will travel to take on Greensboro College on December 17, before returning home on December 29 to host Sewanee, DePauw and Penn College in their annual Holiday Tournament. W&L will see Sewanee on the first day, with the consolation and championship games taking place the following day.

ODAC SCHEDULE:
The Generals will get their first taste of ODAC play on December 2 and 14 when they host Roanoke and Shenandoah, respectively, with the remaining 14 ODAC games coming after the new year. Six of those contests will be at home against Randolph (Jan. 9), Bridgewater (Jan. 20), Eastern Mennonite (Jan. 27), Averett (Feb. 3), Batten (Feb. 6) and Hampden-Sydney (Feb. 13).

W&L ends its regular season by playing three of the final four games on the road before the start of the ODAC Tournament. All told, the Generals will face Hampden-Sydney (Jan. 6), Randolph-Macon (Jan. 13), Guilford (Jan. 16), Lynchburg (Jan. 23), Shenandoah (Jan. 30), Roanoke (Feb. 10), Bridgewater (Feb. 17) and Randolph (Feb. 20) on the road this season.

POSTSEASON PLAY
The ODAC Championship tournament will commence on February 24, with seeds 5-8 traveling to the Top 4 seeds for quarterfinal play. The four advancing teams will then head to the Salem Civic Center for semifinal play on February 27 and the conference final on February 28. The NCAA Championship selection will then follow on Monday, March 2, at 1:00 p.m. on NCAA.com.

How to Watch

The Old Dominion Athletic Conference is in year two of a five-year media rights agreement with FloSports ensures that all ODAC and W&L home contests will stream live on FloCollege with a subscription. Games will also be available on-demand immediately for all subscription holders and new for the 2026-27 year, for free, on FloCollege, 24 hours after their conclusion on FloCollege.com.

FloSports/FloCollege can be accessed through the FloSports app or on major streaming platforms, including Amazon Fire TV, Roku, Apple TV, and Google Chromecast which provides access to FloSports’ full library of more than 40,000 events across 25 sports. Subscriptions can be purchased here.

Admission to regular-season home games is free, while ODAC semifinal and championship games and any NCAA postseason contests will require paid admission regardless of host institution.

Fans planning to attend should review W&L’s tailgating and parking operations HERE.

Key Returners

Junior Connor Amorosi leads the list of returning players to the Generals this season, as Amorosi earned First Team All-ODAC honors as a sophomore. Now a two-time All-ODAC performer, Amorosi led the 2025-26 Generals in scoring (16.5; 7th in ODAC) and three-point percentage (.432) among qualified players. He added 4.3 rebounds per game, second among returning players, and logged a team-high 29.8 minutes per game.

Sophomore Addison Newkirk paces the rebounding efforts for returning players, as he led last year's team with 7.2 rebounds per game, tied for fourth in the ODAC, and contributed 9.3 points per game on his way to winning the ODAC Rookie of the Year award. Newkirk also led the team a season ago in total steals and was second to Amorosi in blocked shots (11).

Junior Bryce Breeden and sophomore Daniel Buttemere add experience among the returning players as they combined for 51 games played last season. Breeden appeared in all 26 contests with 11 starts and averaged 6.6 points and 2.6 rebounds per game, while shooting 33.9 percent (37-109) from long distance. Buttemere missed only one game as a rookie and logged 4.4 points, 1.9 rebounds, 0.9 assists and 0.6 steals per game across 13.4 minutes per contest. Buttemere shot 44.9 percent from the floor which ranked third on the team among qualified players.

Rounding out the top returning players for the 2026-27 season is junior Jackson Ransom, who played in and started 17 games for the Generals a season ago. Ransom played the fourth-most minutes among returning players (18.2/game) and added 2.6 points, 2.2 rebounds and 0.6 steals per game.

Team Captains

Conor Roberton
Connor Amorosi

Conor Roberton is the lone senior captain for this year's team, bringing a wealth of experience and leadership to the Generals for the upcoming campaign.

In his first three seasons, Roberton has played in 60 games for the Generals with eight starts, while covering 14.5 minutes per game. He has scored 192 points in his career, with a mark of 0.395 (17-43) on outside shots. He is also averaging 1.5 rebounds and 1.6 assists per game for his career, including a single-season best 2.9 helpers per game as a sophomore.

Roberton is a cognitive & behavioral science major and education minor, is a four-time W&L Scholar Athlete, a two-time ODAC All-Academic Team student and made the 2025-26 NABC Honors Court.

Connor Amorosi will be serving his first season as a team captain for the 2026-27 season, and has been one of the most productive players on the court over the previous two seasons.

With 50 games and 49 starts under his belt, Amorosi has led the Generals in scoring in each of the last two seasons, totaling a 16.2 points-per-game average in his career so far. Amorosi has his eyes on joining the 1,000-point club this season, needing only 191 more points, while he has also been one of the program's best three-point shooters over the last two seasons, as well, making 54-of-137 attempts (.394). Amorosi's top on-court accolades include 2024-25 ODAC Rookie of the Year, 2025-26 All-ODAC First Team and 2025-26 W&L Holiday Tournament MVP honors for scoring 27 points in the championship game win over Kenyon.

A biochemistry major, Amorosi was named to the 2025-26 College Sports Communicators Academic All-District Team, has earned three W&L Scholar Athlete citations and has been on the ODAC All-Academic Team each of the last two years.

Milestone Watch

A pair of Generals are on milestone watch heading into the season, led by junior Connor Amorosi in his quest for 1,000 career points. Through two seasons, Amorosi has amassed 809 total points at a clip of 16.2 per game. After scoring 380 points in his rookie season, Amorosi upped that total to 429 in 2025-26. Amorosi needs just 191 points to become 30th player in program history to reach the 1,000-point plateau.

A dominant presence inside, Amorosi proved to be just as dangerous from outside last season. He made 32-of-74 three-point shots, a rate of 0.432, to raise his career three-point shooting percentage to 0.394. That currently puts Amorosi in seventh place on the program's all-time three-point percentage list.

Junior Bryce Breeden has also been one of the program's sharpest shooters over his two seasons so far. He is connecting from long range at a rate of 0.382, which is the 10th best in program history. He also needs 32 to reach an even 100 makes from outside for his career, a mark he surpassed last season (37) and was just one shy of as a rookie.