The 2016–17 Saint Mary's Gaels men's basketball team represented

Saint Mary's College of California Saint Mary's College of California is a Private college, private Catholic college in Moraga, California, United States. Established in 1863, it is administered by the De La Salle Brothers. The college offers undergraduate and graduate programs w ...

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' ...

. This was head coach

Randy Bennett Randall William Bennett (born June 9, 1962) is an American college basketball coach and the current head men's basketball coach at Saint Mary's College of California. He has led the team nine NCAA tournament appearances, regular season confere ...

's 16th season at Saint Mary's. The Gaels competed in the

West Coast Conference The West Coast Conference (WCC) — known as the California Basketball Association from 1952 to 1956 and then as the West Coast Athletic Conference until 1989 — is a collegiate athletic conference affiliated with NCAA Division I consisting o ...

and played their home games at the

McKeon Pavilion University Credit Union Pavilion (formerly McKeon Pavilion) is a 3,500-seat multi-purpose arena at Saint Mary's College of California in Moraga, California. Home men's and women's basketball and volleyball games are held in the gymnasium, the t ...

Moraga, California Moraga is a town in Contra Costa County, California, United States. Located in the San Francisco Bay Area, the town is named in honor of Joaquín Moraga, member of the famed Californio family. As of 2020, Moraga had a total population of 16,870 ...

. They finished the season 29–5, 16–2 in WCC play to finish in second place. In the WCC tournament, they defeated

Portland Portland most commonly refers to: *Portland, Oregon, the most populous city in the U.S. state of Oregon *Portland, Maine, the most populous city in the U.S. state of Maine *Isle of Portland, a tied island in the English Channel Portland may also r ...

and BYU before losing to

Gonzaga Gonzaga may refer to: Places *Gonzaga, Lombardy, commune in the province of Mantua, Italy *Gonzaga, Cagayan, municipality in the Philippines *Gonzaga, Minas Gerais, town in Brazil *Forte Gonzaga, fort in Messina, Sicily Surname *House of Gonza ...

in the championship game. They received an at-large bid to the NCAA tournament. As the No. 7 seed in the West region, they beat VCU in the first round before losing to No. 2-seeded

Arizona Arizona is a U.S. state, state in the Southwestern United States, Southwestern region of the United States, sharing the Four Corners region of the western United States with Colorado, New Mexico, and Utah. It also borders Nevada to the nort ...

in the second round.

Previous season

The

Gaels The Gaels ( ; ; ; ) are an Insular Celts, Insular Celtic ethnolinguistic group native to Ireland, Scotland, and the Isle of Man. They are associated with the Goidelic languages, Gaelic languages: a branch of the Celtic languages comprising ...

finished the 2015–16 season 29–6, 15–3 in WCC play to win a share of the WCC regular season conference championship. They defeated

Loyola Marymount Loyola Marymount University (LMU) is a private Jesuit and Marymount research university in Los Angeles, California. LMU enrolls over 10,000 undergraduate and graduate students, making it the largest Catholic university on the west coast of the ...

and Pepperdine to advance to the championship game of the WCC tournament where they lost to

. As a regular season conference champion and No. 1 seed in their conference tournament who failed to win their conference tournament, 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 ...

. As a No. 2 seed in the NIT, they defeated

New Mexico State New Mexico State University (NMSU or NM State) is a Public university system, public, Land-grant university, land-grant, research university in Las Cruces, New Mexico, United States. Founded in 1888, it is the state's oldest public institution ...

and

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 ...

to advance to the quarterfinals before losing to Valparaiso.

Offseason

Departures

2016 recruiting class

2017 recruiting class

Preseason

The Gaels were picked to finish second in the WCC preseason poll. Emmett Naar, Dane Pineau, and Joe Rahon were selected to the All-WCC preseason team. The Gaels were ranked No. 17 in the preseason AP poll and No. 19 in the preseason Coaches Poll.

Roster

Schedule and results

, - !colspan=9 style=, Non-conference regular season , - !colspan=9 style=, WCC regular season , - !colspan=9 style=, WCC tournament , - !colspan=9 style=, NCAA tournament

Rankings

*AP does not release post-NCAA tournament rankings

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:2016-17 Saint Mary's Gaels men's basketball team Saint Mary's Saint Mary's Gaels men's basketball seasons Saint Mary's Saint Mary's Saint Mary's