The 2016–17 Michigan State Spartans women's basketball team represented

Michigan State University Michigan State University (Michigan State or MSU) is a public university, public Land-grant university, land-grant research university in East Lansing, Michigan, United States. It was founded in 1855 as the Agricultural College of the State o ...

during the

2016–17 NCAA Division I women's basketball season The 2016–17 NCAA Division I women's basketball season began on November 11, 2016 and ended with the 2017 NCAA Division I women's basketball tournament, Final Four 2017 NCAA Division I Women's Basketball Championship Game, title game in Dallas ...

. The Spartans, led by tenth-year head coach

Suzy Merchant Suzy Merchant (born July 26, 1969) most recently served as head basketball coach for the Michigan State University Women's Basketball team. She is married to Gary Rakan and has two sons, Tyler Rakan and Brady Rakan. Coaching career Saginaw Val ...

, played their home games at the

Breslin Center The Jack Breslin Student Events Center is a multi-purpose arena at Michigan State University in East Lansing, Michigan. The arena opened in 1989, and is named for Jack Breslin, MSU alumnus, former athlete and administrator, who first began pus ...

East Lansing, Michigan East Lansing is a city in the U.S. state of Michigan. Most of the city lies within Ingham County, although a small portion extends north into Clinton County. At the 2020 census, the city had a population of 47,741. The city is located immediate ...

and were members of the

Big Ten Conference The Big Ten Conference (stylized B1G, formerly the Western Conference and the Big Nine Conference, among others) is a collegiate List of NCAA conferences, athletic conference in the United States. Founded as the Intercollegiate Conference of Fa ...

. They finished the season 21–12, 9–7 in Big Ten play to finish in a tie for sixth place. In the

Big Ten tournament Big Ten Tournament can refer to any Big Ten Conference sport that has a tournament or championship game: * Big Ten Football Championship Game * Big Ten men's basketball tournament * Big Ten women's basketball tournament * Big Ten baseball tournamen ...

, they beat

Wisconsin Wisconsin ( ) is a U.S. state, state in the Great Lakes region, Great Lakes region of the Upper Midwest of the United States. It borders Minnesota to the west, Iowa to the southwest, Illinois to the south, Lake Michigan to the east, Michig ...

and

Michigan Michigan ( ) is a peninsular U.S. state, state in the Great Lakes region, Great Lakes region of the Upper Midwest, Upper Midwestern United States. It shares water and land boundaries with Minnesota to the northwest, Wisconsin to the west, ...

before losing in the semifinals to

Maryland Maryland ( ) is a U.S. state, state in the Mid-Atlantic (United States), Mid-Atlantic region of the United States. It borders the states of Virginia to its south, West Virginia to its west, Pennsylvania to its north, and Delaware to its east ...

. They received an at-large bid to the NCAA tournament as a No. 8 seed where the lost in the First Round to

Arizona State Arizona State University (Arizona State or ASU) is a public research university in Tempe, Arizona, United States. Founded in 1885 as Territorial Normal School by the 13th Arizona Territorial Legislature, the university is one of the largest ...

. Head Coach Suzy Merchant took a medical leave of absence of January 17, 2017 after fainting on the sidelines during a game against Illinois. She also missed the following game against Purdue days after fainting.

Previous season

The

Spartans Sparta was a prominent city-state in Laconia in ancient Greece. In antiquity, the city-state was known as Lacedaemon (), while the name Sparta referred to its main settlement in the valley of Evrotas river in Laconia, in southeastern P ...

finished the 2015–16 season 25–9, 13–5 in Big Ten play to finish in third place. They defeated

Purdue Purdue University is a public land-grant research university in West Lafayette, Indiana, United States, and the flagship campus of the Purdue University system. The university was founded in 1869 after Lafayette businessman John Purdue donat ...

and

Ohio State The Ohio State University (Ohio State or OSU) is a public land-grant research university in Columbus, Ohio, United States. A member of the University System of Ohio, it was founded in 1870. It is one of the largest universities by enrollme ...

in the

before losing in the championship game to

. They received an at-large bid to the NCAA tournament as a No. 4 seed. They defeated Belmont in the First Round before losing to

Mississippi State Mississippi State University for Agriculture and Applied Science, commonly known as Mississippi State University (MSU), is a public land-grant research university in Mississippi State, Mississippi, United States. It is classified among "R ...

in the Second Round.

Roster

Schedule and results

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Rankings

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:2016-17 Michigan State Spartans women's basketball team Michigan State Spartans women's basketball seasons

Michigan State Michigan State University (Michigan State or MSU) is a public land-grant research university in East Lansing, Michigan, United States. It was founded in 1855 as the Agricultural College of the State of Michigan, the first of its kind in the ...

Previous season

Roster

Schedule and results

Rankings

See also

References