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 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 clinched a share of the regular season title with win over Pacific. 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.

For the ninth consecutive year, the West Coast Conference tournament was held at the Orleans Arena in Paradise, Nevada 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 was awarded Player of the Year and Newcomer of the Year by the conference. Gonzaga's Mark Few 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 for the first time in school history, losing to North Carolina. The conference's record in the Tournament was 6–2. BYU also received a postseason bid to the National Invitation Tournament while San Francisco received an invitation to the College Basketball Invitational tournament.

Head coaches

Coaching changes On March 3, 2016, it was announced that Pacific head coach Ron Verlin 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 would be the new head coach. On March 7, 2016, head coach Kerry Keating was fired by Santa Clara. On March 29, the school hired Herb Sendek as head coach. On March 9, 2016, San Francisco head coach Rex Walters was fired. On March 30, the school hired Kyle Smith as head coach. On March 15, 2016, Portland fired head coach Eric Reveno. He finished at Portland with a 10-year record of 140–178. On April 1, the school announced that Terry Porter had been hired as head coach.

Coaches Team Head coach Previous job Yearsat school Overallrecord WCCrecord WCCTournamentrecord NCAATournaments SweetSixteens BYU Dave Rose Dixie State12 8 1 Gonzaga Mark Few Gonzaga(asst.)18 17 6 Loyola Marymount Mike Dunlap Charlotte Bobcats3 0 0 Pacific Damon Stoudamire Memphis Grizzlies (asst.)1 0 0 Pepperdine Marty Wilson Pepperdine(assoc.)7 0 0 Portland Terry PorterN/A1 0 0 Saint Mary's Randy Bennett Saint Louis(asst.)16 5 1 San Diego Lamont Smith New Mexico(asst.)2 0 0 San Francisco Kyle Smith Columbia1 0 0 Santa Clara Herb Sendek Arizona State1 8 1 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 RankTeam 1. Gonzaga (7) 2. Saint Mary's (3) 3. BYU4.Pepperdine5.Santa Clara 6.Loyola Marymount 7.Pacific 8.Portland 9.San Francisco 10.San Diego(first place votes)

All-WCC Preseason Men's Basketball team

Recipient SchoolJared BrownridgeSanta ClaraNick EmeryBYUPrzemek KarnowskiGonzagaEric MikaBYULamond Murray Jr.PepperdineEmmett NaarSaint Mary’sJosh PerkinsGonzagaDane PineauSaint Mary’sJoe RahonSaint Mary’sAlec WinteringPortland Source

Rankings

+ Legend     Improvement in ranking   Drop in ranking   Not ranked previous week RV Received votes but were not ranked in Top 25 of poll (Italics) Number of first place votes

  Pre/Wk 1 Wk2 Wk3 Wk4 Wk5 Wk6 Wk7 Wk8 Wk9 Wk10 Wk11 Wk12 Wk13 Wk14 Wk15 Wk16 Wk17 Wk18 Wk19 Post BYU AP C Gonzaga AP 14 14 11 8 8 8 7 7 5 5 4 3 1 (46) 1 (59) 1 (60) 1 (60) 4 (2) 4 (1) 2 (6) C 13 14 11 8 8 8 7 6 4 5 4 (3) 3 (3) 1 (24) 1 (28) 1 (29) 1 (29) 4 (1) 4 (1) 2 (1) 2 LoyolaMarymount AP C Pacific AP C Pepperdine AP C Portland AP C SaintMary's AP 17 17 15 12 12 20 19 19 19 21 23 21 18 20 22 20 20 19 22 C 19 17 15 13 11 20 19 19 19 21 23 21 19 20 21 18 18 19 21 NR SanDiego AP C SanFrancisco AP C SantaClara AP C

WCC regular season

Conference matrix This table summarizes the head-to-head results between teams in conference play.   BYUGonzagaLMUPacificPepperdinePortlandSaint Mary'sSan DiegoSan FranciscoSanta Claravs. Brigham Young–1–1 0–0 0–21–10–22–01–10–21–1vs. Gonzaga1–1– 0–0 0–20–20–20–20–20–20–2vs. Loyola Marymount2–02–0–0–21–10–22–01–11–11–1vs. Pacific2–02–0 0–0 –1–11–12–00–22–02–0vs. Pepperdine1–12–0 0–0 1–1–1–12–01–12–02–0vs. Portland2–02–0 0–0 1–11–1–2–02–02–02–0vs. Saint Mary's0–22–0 0–0 0–20–20–2–0–20–20–2vs. San Diego1–12–0 0–0 2–01–10–22–0–2–01–1vs. San Francisco2–02–0 0–0 0–20–20–22–00–2–1–1vs. Santa Clara1–12–0 0–0 0–20–20–22–01–11–1–Total 12–6 17–18–104–145–132–1616–26–1210–810–8

All-WCC awards and teams On February 28, the conference announced conference awards. Honor Recipient Player of the YearNigel Williams-Goss, Gonzaga Coach of the YearMark Few, Gonzaga Newcomer of the YearJoe Rahon, Saint Mary’s Defensive Player of the YearNigel Williams-Goss, Gonzaga All-WCC First TeamJared Brownridge, Santa ClaraT. J. Haws, BYUCalvin Hermanson, Saint Mary'sPrzemek Karnowski, GonzagaJock Landale, Saint Mary'sEric Mika, BYULamond Murray Jr., PepperdineJoe Rahon, Saint Mary'sJohnathan Williams, GonzagaNigel Williams-Goss, Gonzaga All-WCC Second TeamBrett Bailey, San DiegoRonnie Boyce III, San FranciscoBrandon Brown, Loyola MarymountZach Collins, GonzagaK. J. Feagin, Santa Clara All-WCC Freshman TeamYoeli Childs, BYUZach Collins, GonzagaT. J. Haws, BYUCharles Minlend, San FranciscoJordan Ratinho, San Francisco All-WCC Honorable MentionOlin Carter III, San DiegoJazz Johnson, PortlandNate Kratch, Santa ClaraJordan Mathews, GonzagaEmmett Naar, Saint Mary’sJosh Perkins, GonzagaChris Reyes, PepperdineBuay Tuach, Loyola MarymountT. J. Wallace, PacificAlec Wintering, Portland

Postseason

West Coast Conference tournament

Session Game Time* Matchup Score Television First round – Friday, March 3 1 1 6:00 PM No. 8 Pepperdine vs. No. 9 Pacific 84–89 BYUtv 2 8:00 PM No. 7 San Diego vs. No. 10 Portland 55–60 BYUtv Quarterfinals – Saturday, March 4 2 3 1:00 PM No. 3 BYU vs. No. 6 Loyola Marymount 89–81 BYUtv/RTRM/CSNBA 4 3:00 PM No. 4 Santa Clara vs. No. 5 San Francisco 76–69 BYUtv/RTRM/CSNBA 3 5 7:00 PM No. 1 Gonzaga vs. No. 9 Pacific 82–50 ESPN2 6 9:00 PM No. 2 Saint Mary's vs. No. 10 Portland 81–58 ESPN2 Semifinals – Monday, March 6 4 7 6:00 PM No. 1 Gonzaga vs No. 4 Santa Clara77–68 ESPN 8 8:30 PM No. 2 Saint Mary's vs No. 3 BYU 81–50 ESPN2 Championship – Tuesday, March 7 5 9 6:00 PM No. 1 Gonzaga vs. No. 2 Saint Mary's74–56 ESPN *Game times in PT. Rankings denote tournament seeding.

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. Seed Region School First Four First round Second round Sweet Sixteen Elite Eight Final Four Championship1WestGonzagaN/Adefeated (16) South Dakota State 66–46defeated (8) Northwestern 79–73defeated (4) West Virginia 61–58defeated (11) Xavier 83–59defeated (7 E) South Carolina 77–73eliminated by (1 S) North Carolina 65–717WestSaint Mary'sN/Adefeated (10) VCU 85–77eliminated by (2) Arizona 60–69 W–L (%):0–0 ()2–0 ()1–1 ()1–0 ()1–0 ()1–0 ()0–1 () Total: 6–2 ()

See also 2016–17 NCAA Division I men's basketball season West Coast Conference men's basketball tournament 2016–17 West Coast Conference women's basketball season West Coast Conference women's basketball tournament 2017 West Coast Conference women's basketball tournament

References