West Georgia Wolves Mens Basketball

Carrollton's long apprenticeship

West Georgia play out of Carrollton, a town roughly 45 miles west of Atlanta, and did so for decades under a different name: the teams were the West Georgia Braves before the switch to Wolves. The programme's single national title came in the NAIA, won in 1974 after tournament appearances in 1972 and 1973.

What followed was a long and mostly respectable Division II residency. Between 1975 and 2024 the Wolves reached the NCAA Division II tournament 20 times, going 14–21 in those games. They made the Sweet Sixteen in 1983, 1984, 1987 and 2002, and the 2002 run went furthest of all: wins over Delta State, Tampa and Valdosta State put them in the Elite Eight, where Shaw beat them 102–84.

The decision to leave that level came in September 2023, when the university announced it would reclassify to Division I. The Atlantic Sun Conference confirmed West Georgia as its newest member on 1 September 2023, with membership effective from 1 July 2024.

Dave Moore and the last good years in Division II

Dave Moore, born in Cincinnati on 8 February 1975, played at Bethel University from 1993 to 1997 and then spent two decades as an assistant — Bethel, Mount St Joseph, Christian Brothers, Robert Morris, and eleven years at St Bonaventure under Mark Schmidt from 2007 to 2018. He was named West Georgia's head coach in April 2018.

His best Division II season was also the programme's last one. In 2023–24 the Wolves went 27–6 and won both the Gulf South Conference regular season and the conference tournament, having also taken the tournament title in 2016. Moore was Gulf South Coach of the Year in 2021 and again in 2024, and took the team to three straight Division II tournaments before the move up. His career record stands at 124–110.

Year one was the bill, year two the receipt

The first Division I season was the expected beating: 6–25 overall, 4–14 in the ASUN. The second looked like a different programme. West Georgia were picked twelfth — last — in the ASUN preseason media poll with 126 points, and finished 15–17 overall and 8–10 in the league, tied for fifth.

The wins came in a cluster and several of them were against the sort of opposition that had dismissed them. Troy fell 93–89 in double overtime on 1 December. Bellarmine went 87–85 on 1 January, Eastern Kentucky 88–76 on 3 January, North Florida 85–73 on 8 January, Queens 74–66 on 24 January. North Alabama were beaten twice in February, 82–73 and 75–63, and Lipscomb lost 84–77 on 25 February.

Seeded sixth for the ASUN tournament, the Wolves beat eleventh-seeded North Florida 93–85 behind 27 points from Shelton Williams-Dryden, then lost 71–63 to third-seeded Queens in the quarter-finals on 6 March. Queens went on to win the thing. On 3 March the league announced its postseason honours and West Georgia appeared on the list for the first time: Williams-Dryden on the All-ASUN First Team, and Josh Smith as Sixth Man of the Year, the ASUN's leading bench scorer at 16 points a game. Central Arkansas supplied both the Player of the Year, Camren Hunter, and the Coach of the Year, John Shulman.

A new league arrived before the old one was finished with them

On 26 June 2025 the ASUN and the Western Athletic Conference announced a strategic alliance to begin in July 2026, under which the WAC would rebrand as the United Athletic Conference and the two leagues would operate as a consortium led by ASUN commissioner Jeff Bacon as executive director. The ASUN kept seven members — Bellarmine, Florida Gulf Coast, Jacksonville, Lipscomb, North Florida, Queens and Stetson — and West Georgia was named among the eight institutions moving into the UAC alongside Abilene Christian, Austin Peay, Central Arkansas, Eastern Kentucky, North Alabama, Tarleton State and UT Arlington. By the time the league published its first preseason basketball poll, Little Rock had been added as well.

That poll landed on 28 October 2026 and did not flatter the Wolves. Central Arkansas were picked to win it with four first-place votes, Austin Peay second with two, Little Rock third with three, then Tarleton State, UT Arlington, Eastern Kentucky and Abilene Christian, with North Alabama and West Georgia tied eighth. Guard Chas Lewless was the programme's only selection on the ten-man Preseason All-UAC team.

The reclassification clock still has time on it. West Georgia cannot enter the NCAA tournament or the NIT until 2028–29, which makes the UAC regular season and its conference tournament the whole of the available prize for the next two years.

The roster, and an offence that ignores the fashion

Lewless is the returning piece the season is built around: he averaged roughly 13 points a game across only ten appearances in 2025–26 before an injury ended his year. Yaniel Rivera is the leading returning scorer at about seven points a game and an efficient three-point shooter. The recruiting work went heavily into the transfer market — Louis Hutchinson from Alabama A&M, Justin Redmond, David Simon from Vermont, who shot 67.6 per cent on two-pointers in limited minutes, and Juaquin Dixon, who scored 22 a game at Malcolm X College. The 2026–27 roster also lists Kenneth Chime, Marshal Destremau, Sam Maynard, Cameron Merritt, Xavier Shegog and Micah Smith.

One independent preview of the new conference placed West Georgia in its third tier and described a team that last season took more of its shots from mid-range than anyone else in its league, with low rates at the rim, at the free-throw line and from three — and the worst three-point shooting in the conference. The incoming shooters suggest Moore intends to change that balance rather than defend it.

The season opened on 2 November 2026 at Wintrust Arena in Chicago, and for twenty minutes it went well: West Georgia led DePaul 31–29 at the break. DePaul then won the second half 46–27 for a 75–58 final, with Koree Cotton scoring 20 and Magoon Gwath 19.

Gameday in Carrollton

The Coliseum opened on 8 January 2009, seats 6,469, and is shared with the women's basketball and volleyball programmes. It doubles as a concert room with an optional pit section — Ludacris, Cole Swindell and Florida Georgia Line have all played it — which is part of why it feels considerably larger than the crowds it usually holds. The largest basketball attendance recorded there is 5,614, on 10 January 2013.

Last season's home gates charted the programme's improvement almost in order. Early dates drew 824 against Huntingdon on 7 November and 403 against Brewton–Parker on 17 December. By late January, Austin Peay brought 1,173 in, Lipscomb 1,447 on 25 February, and the 11 February meeting with North Alabama pulled 2,365 — the biggest home crowd of the year by a clear margin.

The 2026–27 home schedule is front-loaded with winnable non-conference games and ends with the games that matter. UNC Asheville visit on 11 November, followed by Columbia College on 18 November and Paine College on 20 November. Southern Indiana come in for an 11am tip on 1 December, Life University on 6 December, West Florida on 19 December and former ASUN rivals Queens on 21 December. The paid road trips are at Loyola Chicago on 5 November, Vanderbilt on 12 December and Georgia on 16 December. UAC play opens at home against North Alabama on Wednesday 6 January, runs to sixteen games — home and away against every member — and finishes with Central Arkansas at home on 27 February, marked as Senior Day, and Tarleton State on 3 March.