The 2016–17 Gonzaga Bulldogs men's basketball team represented

Gonzaga University Gonzaga University (GU) () is a private Jesuit university in Spokane, Washington. It is accredited by the Northwest Commission on Colleges and Universities. Founded in 1887 by Joseph Cataldo, an Italian-born priest and Jesuit missionary, the ...

in the

2016–17 NCAA Division I men's basketball season The 2016–17 NCAA Division I men's basketball season began on November 11, 2016. The first tournament was the 2K Sports Classic, and ended with the Final Four in Glendale, Arizona on April 3, 2017. Practices officially began on September 30, 20 ...

. The team was led by head coach

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 ...

, who was in his 18th season as head coach. The team played its home games at McCarthey Athletic Center in

Spokane, Washington Spokane ( ) is the largest city and county seat of Spokane County, Washington, United States. It is in eastern Washington, along the Spokane River, adjacent to the Selkirk Mountains, and west of the Rocky Mountain foothills, south of the Cana ...

. The Bulldogs (also informally referred to as the Zags) played in their 37th season as a member of the West Coast Conference. The 2016–17 season was arguably the greatest season in Gonzaga's 109-year basketball history. The Bulldogs finished the regular season with a 32–1 record, only blemished by a loss to

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 ...

on February 25. They finished ranked second in the

AP Poll The Associated Press poll (AP poll) provides weekly rankings of the top 25 NCAA teams in one of three Division I college sports: football, men's basketball and women's basketball. The rankings are compiled by polling 62 sportswriters and broad ...

, the highest final national ranking in school history. They won both the West Coast Conference regular season and tournament championships, and advanced to the first NCAA National Championship game in the school's history—the deepest NCAA Tournament run for a WCC team since

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 ...

advanced to its third consecutive Final Four in 1957. With a victory over

South Carolina )'' Animis opibusque parati'' ( for, , Latin, Prepared in mind and resources, links=no) , anthem = " Carolina";" South Carolina On My Mind" , Former = Province of South Carolina , seat = Columbia , LargestCity = Charleston , LargestMetro = ...

in the regional semifinal, the Bulldogs tied the NCAA Division I record for the second-most wins in a season. They lost in the NCAA National Championship game 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 ...

Previous season

The

Bulldogs The Bulldog is a British breed of dog of mastiff type. It may also be known as the English Bulldog or British Bulldog. It is of medium size, a muscular, hefty dog with a wrinkled face and a distinctive pushed-in nose.2015–16 season 28–8, 15–3 in WCC play to earn a share for the WCC regular season championship. They defeated Portland,

, and Saint Mary's to win the WCC tournament and earn the conference's automatic bid to the NCAA tournament; the Bulldogs have sequentially earned a place in this tournament for the past 18 years. As a No. 11 seed, they defeated No. 6 seed

Seton Hall Seton Hall University (SHU) is a private Catholic research university in South Orange, New Jersey. Founded in 1856 by then-Bishop James Roosevelt Bayley and named after his aunt, Saint Elizabeth Ann Seton, Seton Hall is the oldest diocesa ...

and No. 3 seed

Utah Utah ( , ) is a state in the Mountain West subregion of the Western United States. Utah is a landlocked U.S. state bordered to its east by Colorado, to its northeast by Wyoming, to its north by Idaho, to its south by Arizona, and to it ...

to advance to the Sweet Sixteen. There they lost to No. 10 seed and eventual Final Four participant Syracuse.

Preseason

The Bulldogs were picked to finish first in the WCC preseason poll. Przemek Karnowski and Josh Perkins were selected to the All-WCC preseason team. The Bulldogs were ranked No. 14 in the preseason AP poll and No. 13 in the preseason Coaches Poll.

Offseason

Coaching changes

Departures

Additions to staff

Player departures

Incoming transfers

2016 recruiting class

2017 recruiting class

Roster

Bulldogs Bobcats 2016 AdvoCare Invitational

* Roster is subject to change as/if players transfer or leave the program for other reasons. * Przemek Karnowski received a medical hardship waiver and decided to play his final season of eligibility at Gonzaga in 2016–17. He played the first five games for the Zags in 2015–16, but due to back problems, which eventually forced him to undergo surgery, he missed the rest of the season. * Jesse Wade graduated high school in 2015, but before enrolling in college at Gonzaga, he left for a 2-year LDS mission in Lyon, France, and will arrive on campus as a freshman in Fall 2017. * Jacob Larsen suffered a season-ending knee injury in a preseason practice, forcing him to redshirt the 2016–17 season. Larsen will have 4 years of eligibility remaining at the start of the 2017–18 season. * Jack Beach did not suit up for Gonzaga's season opener against Utah Valley and decided to redshirt the 2016–17 season. Beach will have 3 years of eligibility remaining at the start of the 2017–18 season. * Zach Norvell decided to redshirt the 2016–17 season to recover from summer knee surgery on his meniscus. Norvell will have 4 years of eligibility remaining at the start of the 2017–18 season.

Coaching staff

Schedule and results

Gonzaga's non-conference schedule included a matchup with Washington as well as neutral court games against Tennessee (in Nashville) and Arizona (in Los Angeles). The Zags were invited to play in the AdvoCare Invitational in Florida, where they ultimately played against

Quinnipiac Quinnipiac is the English name for the Eansketambawg (meaning "original people"; ''cf.'' Ojibwe: '' Anishinaabeg'' and Blackfoot: ''Niitsítapi''), a Quiripi-speaking Native American nation of the Algonquian family who inhabited the ''Wamp ...

Florida Florida is a state located in the Southeastern region of the United States. Florida is bordered to the west by the Gulf of Mexico, to the northwest by Alabama, to the north by Georgia, to the east by the Bahamas and Atlantic Ocean, and to ...

, and Iowa State. Gonzaga played 18 conference games (home-and-home) within a nine-week span, beginning on December 29, 2016. The Zags also played in and won the single-elimination WCC Tournament, which took place March 2–7, 2017 at Orleans Arena in Las Vegas. This year's tournament was the first under a new 3-year contract with that venue. , - !colspan=12 style=, Exhibition , - !colspan=12 style=, Non-conference regular season , - !colspan=12 style=, WCC regular season , - !colspan=12 style=, WCC Tournament , - !colspan=12 style=, NCAA tournament

Rankings

*AP does not release post-NCAA tournament rankings ;Notes

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:2016-17 Gonzaga Bulldogs men's basketball team Gonzaga Bulldogs men's basketball seasons Gonzaga Gonzaga NCAA Division I men's basketball tournament Final Four seasons Gonzaga Gonzaga