The 2016–17 West Coast Conference men's basketball season began with practices on September 30, 2016 and ended with the

2017 West Coast Conference men's basketball tournament The 2017 West Coast Conference men's basketball tournament was a postseason men's basketball tournament for the West Coast Conference held March 3–7, 2017 at the Orleans Arena in Paradise, Nevada. Regular-season champion Gonzaga also won t ...

March 2–7, 2017. The regular season began on November 11, 2016, with the conference schedule starting December 29, 2016. This was the 66th season for WCC men's basketball, and the 28th under its current name of "West Coast Conference". The conference was founded in 1952 as the California Basketball Association, became the West Coast Athletic Conference in 1956, and dropped the word "Athletic" in 1989. On February 18, 2017,

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 ...

clinched a share of the regular season title with win over

Pacific The Pacific Ocean is the largest and deepest of Earth's five oceanic divisions. It extends from the Arctic Ocean in the north to the Southern Ocean, or, depending on the definition, to Antarctica in the south, and is bounded by the cont ...

. The title was Gonzaga's 16th title in the prior 17 years. Gonzaga clinched the outright regular season conference title on February 24 by beating

San Diego San Diego ( , ) is a city on the Pacific coast of Southern California, adjacent to the Mexico–United States border. With a population of over 1.4 million, it is the List of United States cities by population, eighth-most populous city in t ...

. For the ninth consecutive year, the West Coast Conference tournament was held at the

Orleans Arena Orleans Arena is a 9,500-seat multi-purpose arena in Paradise, Nevada, in the Las Vegas Valley. It is located at the The Orleans, Orleans Hotel and Casino and is operated by Coast Casinos, a subsidiary of Boyd Gaming, Boyd Gaming Corporation. ...

Paradise, Nevada Paradise is an Unincorporated towns in Nevada, unincorporated town and census-designated place (CDP) in Clark County, Nevada, United States, adjacent to the city of Las Vegas. It was formed on December 8, 1950. Its population was 191,238 at the ...

from March 3 through March 7, 2017. Gonzaga, appearing in the conference final for the 20th consecutive year, defeated Saint Mary's to win the conference championship. As a result, they received the conference's automatic bid to the NCAA tournament. Gonzaga's

Nigel Williams-Goss Nigel Williams-Goss (born September 16, 1994) is an American professional basketball player who last played for Olympiacos of the Greek Basketball League (GBL) and the EuroLeague. He was selected by the Utah Jazz, with the 55th overall pick in ...

was awarded Player of the Year and Newcomer of the Year by the conference. Gonzaga's

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 led the Bulldogs from mid-major obscur ...

was named coach of the year for the 11th time. Two WCC schools received bids to the NCAA tournament: Gonzaga and Saint Mary's. Gonzaga received the No. 1 seed in the West region. Gonzaga advanced to the

National Championship A national championship(s) is the top achievement for any sport or competition, contest within a league of a particular nation or nation state. The title is usually awarded by contests, ranking systems, stature, ability, etc. This determines the be ...

for the first time in school history, losing to

North Carolina North Carolina ( ) is a U.S. state, state in the Southeastern United States, Southeastern region of the United States. It is bordered by Virginia to the north, the Atlantic Ocean to the east, South Carolina to the south, Georgia (U.S. stat ...

. The conference's record in the Tournament was 6–2. BYU also received a postseason 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 ...

while

San Francisco San Francisco, officially the City and County of San Francisco, is a commercial, Financial District, San Francisco, financial, and Culture of San Francisco, cultural center of Northern California. With a population of 827,526 residents as of ...

received an invitation to the College Basketball Invitational tournament.

Head coaches

Coaching changes

* On March 3, 2016, it was announced that

head coach

Ron Verlin Ronald Dean Verlin (born June 15, 1965) is an American college basketball coach and the former head coach of the men's basketball team at the University of the Pacific (United States), University of the Pacific. He is also the twin brother of fo ...

was no longer employed by the university. Interim coach Mike Burns was also released from his employment with the school. On March 16, the school announced that

Damon Stoudamire Damon Lamon Stoudamire (born September 3, 1973), nicknamed Mighty Mouse, is an American college basketball coach and former player who is currently the head coach for the Georgia Tech Yellow Jackets of the Atlantic Coast Conference (ACC). The , ...

would be the new head coach. * On March 7, 2016, head coach

Kerry Keating Kerry Keating (born July 15, 1971) is an American college basketball coach and the former head men's basketball coach at Santa Clara University. Early life and college education Keating was born in Stoughton, Massachusetts, and grew up in Rock ...

was fired by Santa Clara. On March 29, the school hired

Herb Sendek Herbert Joseph Sendek Jr. (born February 22, 1963) is an American college basketball coach who is the current men's basketball head coach at Santa Clara. Early life Herbert Joseph Sendek Jr. grew up in Pittsburgh and attended Penn Hills High S ...

as head coach. * On March 9, 2016,

head coach

Rex Walters Rex Andrew Walters Sr. (born March 12, 1970) is an American professional basketball coach and former player who last served as an assistant coach for the Charlotte Hornets of the National Basketball Association (NBA). Previously, he was the asso ...

was fired. On March 30, the school hired Kyle Smith as head coach. * On March 15, 2016,

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 ...

fired head coach

Eric Reveno Eric Wendell Reveno (born March 12, 1966) is an American college basketball coach who is the men's associate head coach for the Stanford Cardinal of the Atlantic Coast Conference and was the former head men's basketball coach at Portland. He was ...

. He finished at Portland with a 10-year record of 140–178. On April 1, the school announced that

Terry Porter Terry Porter (born April 8, 1963) is an American former college basketball coach and former player in the National Basketball Association (NBA). He was most recently the head men's basketball coach at the Portland Pilots, University of Portland ...

had been hired as head coach.

Coaches

''Notes:'' * Year at school includes 2016–17 season. * Overall and WCC records are from time at current school and are through the beginning of the 2016–17 season.

Preseason

Preseason poll

Source

All-WCC Preseason Men's Basketball team

Source

Rankings

WCC regular season

Conference matrix

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

All-WCC awards and teams

On February 28, the conference announced conference awards.

Postseason

West Coast Conference tournament

NCAA tournament

The winner of the WCC tournament, Gonzaga, received the conference's automatic bid to the NCAA tournament. Saint Mary's received an at-large bid to the Tournament.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:2016-17 West Coast Conference men's basketball season