The 2016–17 Drake Bulldogs men's basketball team represented Drake University during the 2016–17 NCAA Division I men's basketball season. The Bulldogs were led by interim head coach Jeff Rutter. They played their home games at the Knapp Center in Des Moines, Iowa and were members of the Missouri Valley Conference.
Fourth-year head coach Ray Giacoletti resigned on December 6, 2016, after the first eight games of the season. Assistant coach Jeff Rutter was named interim head coach.
They finished the season 7–24, 5–13 to finish in a tie for ninth place in MVC play. They lost in the first round of the Missouri Valley Conference tournament to Bradley.
Following the season, the school chose not to keep Jeff Rutter as head coach and hired Niko Medved, former head coach at Furman, as the Bulldogs' new head coach.
Previous season The Bulldogs finished the season 7–24, 2–16 in Missouri Valley play to finish in last place. They lost in the first round of the Missouri Valley tournament to Missouri State.
Preseason Drake was picked to finish last in the preseason MVC poll.
Departures Name Number Pos. Height Weight Year Hometown Notes Karl Madison 1 G 5'11" 174 RS Senior Springfield, IL Graduated Kale Abrahamson 31 F 6'8" 221 RS Junior West Des Moines, IA Graduate transferred to Duquesne Dominik Olejniczak 44 C 7'0" 249 Freshman Toruń, Poland Transferred to Ole Miss
Incoming transfers Name Number Pos. Height Weight Year Hometown Previous School De'Antae McMurray 4 G 6'1" 185 Junior Alton, IL Junior college transferred from Southwestern Illinois College T.J. Thomas 10 F 6'8" 200 Junior Lithonia, GA Junior college transferred from Tyler JC
Incoming recruits Drake did not have any incoming players in the 2016 recruiting class.
Recruiting class of 2017
Roster
Schedule and results
!colspan=9 style=| Exhibition
!colspan=9 style=| Non-conference regular season
!colspan=9 style=| Missouri Valley Conference regular season
!colspan=9 style=| Missouri Valley tournament
References