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 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' ...

in November. Conference play began in late December and concluded in early March.

Middle Tennessee Middle Tennessee is one of the three Grand Divisions of Tennessee that composes roughly the central portion of the state. It is delineated according to state law as 41 of the state's 95 counties. Middle Tennessee contains the state's capital an ...

claimed the outright regular season championship with a win over UAB on February 26, 2017.

Louisiana Tech Louisiana Tech University (Louisiana Tech, La. Tech, or simply Tech) is a public research university in Ruston, Louisiana, United States. It is part of the University of Louisiana System and classified among "R2: Doctoral Universities – Hig ...

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 who last played for Dubai Basketball of the ABA League. He played college basketball at Middle Tennessee State University, where he was named the Conference USA Player of th ...

was named C-USA Player of the Year and

Kermit Davis Kermit John Davis Jr. (born December 14, 1959) is an American college basketball coach who was most recently the head coach for the Ole Miss Rebels from 2018 to 2023. Prior to that, he was the head coach at Middle Tennessee for 16 seasons. His he ...

was named the Coach of the Year. The C-USA tournament was held from March 8 through 11, 2017 at

Legacy Arena Legacy Arena (formerly known as the BJCC Coliseum and the BJCC Arena) is an arena located at the Birmingham–Jefferson Convention Complex in Birmingham, Alabama. The arena seats 17,654 for sporting events, up to 16,250 for concerts and 6,000 i ...

Birmingham, Alabama Birmingham ( ) is a city in the north central region of Alabama, United States. It is the county seat of Jefferson County, Alabama, Jefferson County. The population was 200,733 at the 2020 United States census, 2020 census, making it the List ...

. Middle Tennessee defeated

Marshall Marshall may refer to: Places Australia *Marshall, Victoria, a suburb of Geelong, Victoria ** Marshall railway station Canada * Marshall, Saskatchewan * The Marshall, a mountain in British Columbia Liberia * Marshall, Liberia Marshall Is ...

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 Rice is a cereal grain and in its Domestication, domesticated form is the staple food of over half of the world's population, particularly in Asia and Africa. Rice is the seed of the grass species ''Oryza sativa'' (Asian rice)—or, much l ...

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 player, who played for the Orlando Magic, Utah Jazz, Denver Nuggets, Phoenix Suns and New York Knicks of the National Basketball Association (NBA). Co ...

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 basketball coach and former professional basketball player who is an assistant for Baylor University. He previously served as the head coach at the University of Texas at San Antonio ...

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 coach who most recently was an assistant coach at the Memphis Tigers men's basketball, University of Memphis. He was the head coach at Western Kentucky Hilltoppers ...

as head coach. UAB head coach

Jerod Haase Jerod Albert Haase (born April 1, 1974) is an American college basketball coach. He was the head coach for Stanford Cardinal men's team of the Pac-12 Conference from 2016 to 2024. Haase played college basketball at the University of Californi ...

left UAB to accept the head coaching position at

Stanford Leland Stanford Junior University, commonly referred to as Stanford University, is a private research university in Stanford, California, United States. It was founded in 1885 by railroad magnate Leland Stanford (the eighth governor of and th ...

. On April 4, 2016, the school hired

Robert Ehsan Robert Hassan Ehsan ( ; born May 3, 1982) is an American college basketball coach who is currently the head coach for the UIC Flames men's basketball, UIC Flames. From 2016–2020, he was the head men's basketball coach at the University of Alaba ...

, 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.