The 2016–17 Winthrop Eagles men's basketball team represented

Winthrop University Winthrop University is a public university in Rock Hill, South Carolina. It was founded in 1886 by David Bancroft Johnson, who served as the superintendent of Columbia, South Carolina schools. He received a grant from Robert Charles Winthrop, a ...

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 Eagles, led by fifth-year head coach

Pat Kelsey Patrick Kelsey (born May 15, 1975) is an American college basketball coach. He is the current head men's basketball coach at the University of Louisville. He previously served as head coach for the College of Charleston Cougars men's basketball, ...

, played their home games at the

Winthrop Coliseum Winthrop Coliseum is a 6,100-seat multi-purpose arena in Rock Hill, South Carolina. It was built in 1982 and is home to the Winthrop University Eagles basketball and volleyball teams. The facility accommodates conventions, trade shows, concerts, ...

Rock Hill, South Carolina Rock Hill is the most populous city in York County, South Carolina, United States, and the List of municipalities in South Carolina, 5th-most populous city in the state. It is also the 4th-most populous city of the Charlotte metropolitan area, be ...

as members of the

Big South Conference The Big South Conference is a collegiate athletic conference affiliated with the NCAA's Division I. Originally a non-football conference, the Big South began sponsoring football in 2002 as part of the Football Championship Subdivision (FCS), ...

. They finished the season 26–7, 15–3 in Big South play to finish in a tie for the regular season Big South championship. As the No. 1 seed in the Big South tournament, they defeated Charleston Southern, Gardner–Webb, and Campbell to win the tournament championship. As a result, they received the conference's automatic bid to the NCAA tournament, their first bid since

2010 The year saw a multitude of natural and environmental disasters such as the 2010 Haiti earthquake, the Deepwater Horizon oil spill, and the 2010 Chile earthquake. The 2009 swine flu pandemic, swine flu pandemic which began the previous year ...

. In the NCAA Tournament, they lost in the first round to

Butler A butler is a person who works in a house serving and is a domestic worker in a large household. In great houses, the household is sometimes divided into departments, with the butler in charge of the dining room, wine cellar, and pantries, pantr ...

. After the season, head coach Pat Kelsey initially left Winthrop on March 21, 2017 to take the head coaching job at UMass, but backed out 2 days later for personal reasons and returned to the program.

Previous season

The

Eagles Eagle is the common name for the golden eagle, bald eagle, and other birds of prey in the family of the Accipitridae. Eagles belong to several groups of Genus, genera, some of which are closely related. True eagles comprise the genus ''Aquila ( ...

finished the 2015–16 season 23–9, 13–5 in Big South play to win a share of the regular season conference championship. They defeated

Presbyterian Presbyterianism is a historically Reformed Protestant tradition named for its form of church government by representative assemblies of elders, known as "presbyters". Though other Reformed churches are structurally similar, the word ''Pr ...

and Gardner–Webb to advance to the championship game of the Big South tournament where they lost to UNC Asheville. Despite the regular season conference title and 23 wins, they did not participate in a postseason tournament.

Roster

Schedule and results

, - !colspan=9 style=, Regular season , - !colspan=9 style=, Big South tournament , - !colspan=9 style=, NCAA tournament

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:2016-17 Winthrop Eagles men's basketball team Winthrop Eagles men's basketball seasons Winthrop Winthrop 2017 in sports in South Carolina 2016 in sports in South Carolina