BEAUMONT, Texas – While most Lamar University fans are focused on one of the best starts to a football season in school history, the upcoming basketball season could be even more exciting for Cardinals' fans. 
 
With the heart of the Cardinals' roster back from last years 20-win season that saw LU advance to the finals of the Southland Conference basketball tournament, Lamar has been garnering preseason attention. Several publications have Lamar as a favorite to win the 2026 Southland Conference regular-season title. If Big Red can prove those prognosticators correct it would be huge for two reasons: A) it would mean dethroning rival McNeese and B) it would be Lamar's first conference crown since 2008.
 
But there is a long way to go before Lamar can even begin to think of that. First, McNeese returns a ton of talent despite having to replace its head coach. The Cowboys will not relinquish their title easily, especially to their rivals. In addition to that, the league is tough with five teams finishing within two games of the Cardinals last season. All indications are the league will be even tougher this season. 
 
The rise of the program under fifth-year head coach Alvin Brooks, who received a contract extension during the season, has been exciting for fans. A member of the Cardinal Hall of Honor as a player, Brooks took over a program that won just two games during his first season and has showed marked improvement each year – two wins, nine, 19 and 20. 
 
What makes that stat even more impressive is Big Red has done so while also having to replace its leading scorer each year. The good news for LU (based on the previous sentence) is they once again enter a new season looking to replace their leading scorer, but they are not void of offense. 
 
The Cardinals return two starters and six letterwinners from last season, but those numbers do not include B.B. Knight who sat out last season due to injury. If Knight is 100 percent, then that adds another starter and double-digit scorer to the lineup. The other two starters are four-year man Cody Pennebaker (6-5, 194, G) and Beaumont native Andrew Holifield (6-10, 185, Sr.) who turned down the offers from Power 4 schools to have one more year to play for his hometown school. 
 
The Cardinals also added seven newcomers during the offseason, including four high school standouts, two junior college transfers and an NCAA Division II star from Michigan, who walked away from all of the local schools to play basketball in the Lone Star State. 
 
What's on tap for Lamar this season? Well, I'm not even going to attempt to predict that, but if the Cardinals follow the same gameplan as in the previous four years the 2025-26 campaign will be one you do not want to miss.