The 2016–17 West Coast Conference men's basketball season began with practices on September 30, 2016 and ended with the

2017 West Coast Conference men's basketball tournament The 2017 West Coast Conference men's basketball tournament was a postseason men's basketball tournament for the West Coast Conference held March 3–7, 2017 at the Orleans Arena in Paradise, Nevada. Regular-season champion 2016–17 Gonzaga Bull ...

March 2–7, 2017. The regular season began on November 11, 2016, with the conference schedule starting December 29, 2016. This was the 66th season for WCC men's basketball, and the 28th under its current name of "West Coast Conference". The conference was founded in 1952 as the California Basketball Association, became the West Coast Athletic Conference in 1956, and dropped the word "Athletic" in 1989. On February 18, 2017, Gonzaga clinched a share of the regular season title with win over

Pacific The Pacific Ocean is the largest and deepest of Earth's five oceanic divisions. It extends from the Arctic Ocean in the north to the Southern Ocean (or, depending on definition, to Antarctica) in the south, and is bounded by the contine ...

. The title was Gonzaga's 16th title in the prior 17 years. Gonzaga clinched the outright regular season conference title on February 24 by beating

San Diego San Diego ( , ; ) is a city on the Pacific Ocean coast of Southern California located immediately adjacent to the Mexico–United States border. With a 2020 population of 1,386,932, it is the eighth most populous city in the United State ...

. For the ninth consecutive year, the West Coast Conference tournament was held at the

Orleans Arena Orleans Arena is a 9,500-seat multi-purpose arena in Paradise, Nevada, in the Las Vegas Valley. It is located at the Orleans Hotel and Casino and is operated by Coast Casinos, a subsidiary of Boyd Gaming Corporation. The arena is the home t ...

in Paradise, Nevada from March 3 through March 7, 2017. Gonzaga, appearing in the conference final for the 20th consecutive year, defeated Saint Mary's to win the conference championship. As a result, they received the conference's automatic bid to the NCAA tournament. Gonzaga's Nigel Williams-Goss was awarded Player of the Year and Newcomer of the Year by the conference. Gonzaga's

Mark Few Mark Norman Few (born December 27, 1962) is an American college basketball coach who has been the head coach at Gonzaga University since 1999. He has served on Gonzaga's coaching staff since 1989, and has been a constant on the sidelines through ...

was named coach of the year for the 11th time. Two WCC schools received bids to the NCAA tournament: Gonzaga and Saint Mary's. Gonzaga received the No. 1 seed in the West region. Gonzaga advanced to the

National Championship A national championship(s) is the top achievement for any sport or contest within a league of a particular nation or nation state. The title is usually awarded by contests, ranking systems, stature, ability, etc. This determines the best team, indi ...

for the first time in school history, losing to

North Carolina North Carolina () is a state in the Southeastern region of the United States. The state is the 28th largest and 9th-most populous of the United States. It is bordered by Virginia to the north, the Atlantic Ocean to the east, Georgia and ...

. The conference's record in the Tournament was 6–2.

BYU Brigham Young University (BYU, sometimes referred to colloquially as The Y) is a private research university in Provo, Utah. It was founded in 1875 by religious leader Brigham Young and is sponsored by the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day S ...

also received a postseason bid to the National Invitation Tournament while

San Francisco San Francisco (; Spanish for " Saint Francis"), officially the City and County of San Francisco, is the commercial, financial, and cultural center of Northern California. The city proper is the fourth most populous in California and 17th ...

received an invitation to the College Basketball Invitational tournament.

Head coaches

Coaching changes

* On March 3, 2016, it was announced that

head coach Ron Verlin was no longer employed by the university. Interim coach Mike Burns was also released from his employment with the school. On March 16, the school announced that

Damon Stoudamire Damon Lamon Stoudamire (born September 3, 1973) is an American professional basketball coach and former player who is currently an assistant coach for the Boston Celtics of the National Basketball Association (NBA) The , point guard was selected ...

would be the new head coach. * On March 7, 2016, head coach

Kerry Keating Kerry Keating (born July 15, 1971) is an American college basketball coach and the former head men's basketball coach at Santa Clara University. Early life and college education Keating was born in Stoughton, Massachusetts and grew up in Rockvi ...

was fired by Santa Clara. On March 29, the school hired

Herb Sendek Herbert Joseph Sendek Jr. (born February 22, 1963) is an American college basketball coach who is the current men's basketball head coach at Santa Clara. Early life Herbert Joseph Sendek, Jr. of Slovak descent, grew up in Pittsburgh and attended ...

as head coach. * On March 9, 2016,

head coach

Rex Walters Rex Andrew Walters (born March 12, 1970) is an American professional basketball coach and former player who serves as an assistant coach for the Charlotte Hornets of the National Basketball Association (NBA). Previously, he was the Associate Hea ...

was fired. On March 30, the school hired Kyle Smith as head coach. * On March 15, 2016,

Portland Portland most commonly refers to: * Portland, Oregon, the largest city in the state of Oregon, in the Pacific Northwest region of the United States * Portland, Maine, the largest city in the state of Maine, in the New England region of the northeas ...

fired head coach

Eric Reveno Eric Wendell Reveno (born March 12, 1966) is an American assistant college basketball coach at Oregon State and the former head men's basketball coach at Portland Pilots men's basketball, Portland. He was named the West Coast Conference coach of th ...

. He finished at Portland with a 10-year record of 140–178. On April 1, the school announced that

Terry Porter Terry Porter (born April 8, 1963) is an American former college basketball coach and former player in the National Basketball Association (NBA). He was most recently the head men's basketball coach at the University of Portland. A native of Wis ...

had been hired as head coach.

Coaches

''Notes:'' * Year at school includes 2016–17 season. * Overall and WCC records are from time at current school and are through the beginning of the 2016–17 season.

Preseason

Preseason poll

Source

All-WCC Preseason Men's Basketball team

Source

Rankings

WCC regular season

Conference matrix

This table summarizes the head-to-head results between teams in conference play.

All-WCC awards and teams

On February 28, the conference announced conference awards.

Postseason

West Coast Conference tournament

NCAA tournament

The winner of the WCC tournament, Gonzaga, received the conference's automatic bid to the NCAA tournament. Saint Mary's received an at-large bid to the Tournament.

References

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