The 2016–17 Conference USA men's basketball season began with practices in October 2016, followed by the start of 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, 2 ...

in November. Conference play began in late December and concluded in early March. Middle Tennessee claimed the outright regular season championship with a win over UAB on February 26, 2017. Louisiana Tech finished in second place in the regular season, three games behind the Blue Raiders. Middle Tennessee's

JaCorey Williams JaCorey Williams (born June 12, 1994) is an American basketball player for KK Budućnost, Budućnost VOLI of the Adriatic League (ABA) and the Prva A Liga. He played college basketball at Middle Tennessee State University, where he was named the ...

was named C-USA Player of the Year and Kermit Davis was named the Coach of the Year. The C-USA tournament was held from March 8 through 11, 2017 at Legacy Arena in Birmingham, Alabama. Middle Tennessee defeated Marshall to win the tournament championship for the second consecutive year. As a result, the Blue Raiders received the conference's automatic bid to the NCAA tournament. No other C-USA school received an NCAA Tournament bid. Rice received a bid to the College Basketball Invitational tournament.

Head coaches

Coaching changes

On March 10, 2016, after 10 years with UTSA, head coach

Brooks Thompson Brooks James Thompson (July 19, 1970 – June 9, 2016) was an American basketball coach and retired player, who played for the Orlando Magic, Utah Jazz, Denver Nuggets, Phoenix Suns and New York Knicks of the National Basketball Association (NB ...

was fired. He finished at UTSA with a record of 130–176. On April 1, the school hired

Steve Henson Steven Michael Henson (born February 2, 1968) is an American former professional basketball player, who was selected by the Milwaukee Bucks in the second round (44th pick overall) of the 1990 NBA draft. He was an assistant basketball coach at ...

as head coach. On March 17, 2016, WKU head coach Ray Harper resigned after three players were suspended by a university disciplinary committee. He finished at WKU with a record of 90–62. On March 28, the school hired

Rick Stansbury Richard Lee Stansbury (born December 23, 1959), is an American college basketball and the current head coach of the Western Kentucky Hilltoppers basketball team. He was previously the head coach at Mississippi State. He was hired as the WKU head c ...

as head coach. UAB head coach

Jerod Haase Jerod Albert Haase (born April 1, 1974) is an American college basketball coach who is the head coach for Stanford Cardinal men's basketball, Stanford Cardinal men's team of the Pac-12 Conference. Haase played college basketball at the Universit ...

left UAB to accept the head coaching position at

Stanford Stanford University, officially Leland Stanford Junior University, is a private research university in Stanford, California. The campus occupies , among the largest in the United States, and enrolls over 17,000 students. Stanford is considere ...

. On April 4, 2016, the school hired

Robert Ehsan Robert Hassan Ehsan (born May 3, 1982) is an American college basketball coach that is currently an assistant coach for the Stanford Cardinal men's basketball, Stanford Cardinal. From 2016–2020, he was the head men's basketball coach at the Univ ...

, who had been an assistant under Haase at UAB, as head coach .

Coaches

''Notes:'' * All records, appearances, titles, etc. are from time with current school only. * Year at school includes 2016–17 season. * Overall and C-USA records are from time at current school and are through the end of the 2016–17 season.

Preseason

Preseason Coaches Poll

Source ''() first place votes''

Preseason All-C-USA Team

Source

Conference schedules

Conference matrix

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

Players of the Week

Throughout the conference regular season, the C-USA offices named one or two players of the week and one or two freshmen of the week each Monday.

All-C-USA honors and awards

Following the regular season, the conference selected outstanding performers based on a poll of league coaches.