The 2016–17 Belmont Bruins men's basketball team represented

Belmont University Belmont University is a Private university, private Christian university in Nashville, Tennessee, United States. Descended from Belmont Women's College, founded in 1890 by schoolteachers Ida Hood and Susan Heron, the institution was incorporate ...

during 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 early-season tournaments were the 2K Sports Classic, Charleston Classic, and Puerto Rico Tip-Off. The season ended with the 2017 NCAA Division I men' ...

. The Bruins, led by 31st-year head coach

Rick Byrd Richard F. Byrd (born April 30, 1953) is a retired American college basketball coach who served as the head coach of the Belmont Bruins men's basketball team from 1986-2019. On February 16, 2017, with the Bruins win over Eastern Kentucky, Byrd ...

, played their home games at the Curb Event Center in

Nashville, Tennessee Nashville, often known as Music City, is the capital and List of municipalities in Tennessee, most populous city in the U.S. state of Tennessee. It is the county seat, seat of Davidson County, Tennessee, Davidson County in Middle Tennessee, locat ...

as members of the

Ohio Valley Conference The Ohio Valley Conference (OVC) is a collegiate athletic conference which operates in the Midwestern and Southeastern United States. It participates in Division I of the NCAA; the conference's football programs compete in partnership with ...

(OVC) in the East Division. They finished the season 23–7, 15–1 in OVC play, to win the regular-season championship. In the OVC tournament, they lost in the semifinals to Jacksonville State. As a regular-season conference champion who failed to win their conference tournament title, they received an automatic bid to the

National Invitation Tournament The National Invitation Tournament (NIT) is an annual men's college basketball tournament operated by the National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA). Since 2023, all rounds of the tournament are played at various sites across the country whi ...

where they defeated

Georgia Georgia most commonly refers to: * Georgia (country), a country in the South Caucasus * Georgia (U.S. state), a state in the southeastern United States Georgia may also refer to: People and fictional characters * Georgia (name), a list of pe ...

in the first round before losing to

Georgia Tech The Georgia Institute of Technology (commonly referred to as Georgia Tech, GT, and simply Tech or the Institute) is a public research university and institute of technology in Atlanta, Georgia, United States. Established in 1885, it has the lar ...

Previous season

The

Bruins Bruin, (from Dutch for "brown"), is an English folk term for brown bear. Bruin, Bruins or BRUIN may also refer to: Places * Lake Bruin, ox-bow lake of the Mississippi River located in northeastern Louisiana ** Lake Bruin State Park * Bruin, K ...

finished the 2015–16 season 20–12, 12–4 in OVC play, to win the East Division and the overall OVC regular season. They lost in the semifinals of the OVC tournament to

Austin Peay Austin Peay (; June 1, 1876 – October 2, 1927) was an American politician who served as the 35th governor of Tennessee from 1923 to 1927. He was the state's first governor since the Civil War to win three consecutive terms and the first to die ...

. As a regular-season conference champion who failed to win their conference tournament, they received an automatic bid to the

where they lost in the first round to

Preseason

In a vote of Ohio Valley Conference head men’s basketball coaches and sports information directors, Belmont was picked to finish as regular-season champions of the OVC for the third time in the last four years. Reigning OVC Player of the Year, Evan Bradds, was named OVC Preseason Player of the Year for the 2016–17 season. Taylor Barnette was also selected to the All-OVC Preseason Team.

Roster

Schedule and results

, - !colspan=9 style=, Regular season , - !colspan=9 style=", Ohio Valley Conference tournament , - !colspan=9 style=", NIT Source:

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:2016-17 Belmont Bruins men's basketball team Belmont Bruins men's basketball seasons Belmont Belmont 2016 in Nashville, Tennessee 2017 in Nashville, Tennessee