# 2016–17 Vermont Catamounts men's basketball team

The 2016–17 Vermont Catamounts men's basketball team represented the University of Vermont during the 2016–17 NCAA Division I men's basketball season. The Catamounts, led by sixth-year head coach John Becker, played their home games at Patrick Gym in Burlington, Vermont and were members of the America East Conference. They finished the season 29–6, 16–0 in America East play to win the America East regular season championship. In the America East tournament, they defeated Maine, New Hampshire and Albany to win the tournament championship. As a result, they received the conference's automatic bid to the NCAA tournament. As a No. 13 seed in the Midwest region, they lost to No. 4-seeded Purdue in the first round.

## Previous season

The Catamounts finished the 2015–16 season 23–14, 11–5 in America East play to finish in a tie for third place. They defeated Maine and New Hampshire to advance to the championship game of the America East tournament where they lost to Stony Brook. They received an invitation to the College Basketball Invitational. There, they defeated Western Carolina and Seattle to advance to the semifinals before losing to Nevada.

## Preseason

Vermont was picked to finish first in the preseason America East poll. Trae Bell-Haynes was selected to the preseason All-America East team.

## Departures

| Name | Number | Pos. | Height | Weight | Year | Hometown | Notes |
| Dylan Sinnickson | 5 | F | 6'5" | 195 | Senior | Sands Point, NY | Walk-on; graduated |
| Ethan O'Day | 32 | F | 6'9" | 201 | Senior | Mansfield, CT | Graduated |

### Incoming Transfers

| Name | Number | Pos. | Height | Weight | Year | Hometown | Previous School |
| Samuel Dingba | 5 | F | 6'5" | 205 | Junior | Yaoundé, Cameroon | Transferred from Quinnipiac. Under NCAA transfer rules, Dinga will not play for the 2016–17 season. Will have two years of remaining eligibility. |

## 2016 incoming recruits

College recruiting information :
| Name | Hometown | High school / college | Height | Weight | Commit date |
| Anthony Lamb #86 PF | Rochester, NY | Greece Athena High School | 6 ft 6 in (1.98 m) | 225 lb (102 kg) | Sep 7, 2015 |
| Star ratings: Scout: N/A Rivals: N/A 247Sports: N/A ESPN grade: 65 ||||||
| Ben Shungu PG | Burlington, VT | Rice Memorial High School | 6 ft 2 in (1.88 m) | 200 lb (91 kg) | Jan 19, 2016 |
| Star ratings: Scout: N/A Rivals: N/A 247Sports: N/A ESPN grade: 0 ||||||
| Kian Dalyrimple SG | Dix Hills, NY | Half Hallow Hills West High School | 6 ft 4 in (1.93 m) | 177 lb (80 kg) | May 12, 2016 |
| Star ratings: Scout: N/A Rivals: N/A 247Sports: N/A ESPN grade: 0 ||||||
| Overall recruiting rankings: ||||||
| Note: In many cases, Scout, Rivals, 247Sports, and ESPN may conflict in their listings of height and weight. In these cases, the average was taken. ESPN grades are on a 100-point scale. Sources: "2016 Team Ranking". Rivals.com. Retrieved September 29, 2016. ||||||

## Schedule and results

| Date time, TV | Rank$^#$ | Opponent$^#$ | Result | Record | Site (attendance) city, state |
| Exhibition ||||||
| 10/29/2016* 7:00 pm | | Quebec–Montreal | W 89–66 | | Patrick Gym (2,028) Burlington, VT |
| 11/07/2016* 7:00 pm | | Saint Michael's | W 94–65 | | Patrick Gym (2,404) Burlington, VT |
| Non-conference regular season ||||||
| 11/12/2016* 1:00 pm | | at Quinnipiac | W 94–70 | 1–0 | TD Bank Sports Center (1,517) Hamden, CT |
| 11/14/2016* 7:00 pm, FS2 | | at Providence | L 58–80 | 1–1 | Dunkin' Donuts Center (8,310) Providence, RI |
| 11/16/2016* 7:00 pm | | at Marist | W 76–72 | 2–1 | McCann Field House (1,112) Poughkeepsie, NY |
| 11/19/2016* 1:00 pm | | Lyndon State Gulf Coast Showcase Opening Round | W 79–20 | 3–1 | Patrick Gym (1,955) Burlington, VT |
| 11/21/2016* 11:00 am | | vs. Wofford Gulf Coast Showcase quarterfinals | W 60–59 | 4–1 | Germain Arena Estero, FL |
| 11/22/2016* 5:00 pm | | vs. Hofstra Gulf Coast Showcase semifinals | W 87–73 | 5–1 | Germain Arena Estero, FL |
| 11/23/2016* 7:30 pm | | vs. Houston Gulf Coast Showcase finals | L 71–72 | 5–2 | Germain Arena Estero, FL |
| 11/26/2016* 1:00 pm | | Yale | W 67–65 | 6–2 | Patrick Gym (2,173) Burlington, VT |
| 12/01/2016* 6:30 pm | | at No. 20 South Carolina | L 50–68 | 6–3 | Colonial Life Arena (11,579) Columbia, SC |
| 12/07/2016* 7:00 pm | | Dartmouth | W 73–58 | 7–3 | Patrick Gym (2,186) Burlington, VT |
| 12/10/2016* 1:00 pm | | Northeastern | L 57–59 | 7–4 | Patrick Gym (2,284) Burlington, VT |
| 12/17/2016* 1:00 pm | | Eastern Michigan | W 82–74 | 8–4 | Patrick Gym (1,775) Burlington, VT |
| 12/21/2016* 7:00 pm, FSN | | at No. 13 Butler | L 69–81 | 8–5 | Hinkle Fieldhouse (7,898) Indianapolis, IN |
| 12/29/2016* 7:00 pm, ESPN3 | | at Siena | W 76–60 | 9–5 | Times Union Center (6,176) Albany, NY |
| 01/02/2017* 7:00 pm | | Harvard | W 82–71 | 10–5 | Patrick Gym (2,312) Burlington, VT |
| America East regular season ||||||
| 01/05/2017 7:00 pm, ESPN3 | | at Maine | W 90–77 | 11–5 (1–0) | Cross Insurance Center (798) Bangor, ME |
| 01/08/2017 4:00 pm | | Hartford | W 85–54 | 12–5 (2–0) | Patrick Gym (2,192) Burlington, VT |
| 01/11/2017 7:00 pm | | at Binghamton | W 67–50 | 13–5 (3–0) | Binghamton University Events Center (1,878) Vestal, NY |
| 01/13/2017 7:00 pm | | UMBC | W 81–72 | 14–5 (4–0) | Patrick Gym (2,341) Burlington, VT |
| 01/16/2017 1:00 pm, ESPN3 | | at New Hampshire | W 71–59 | 15–5 (5–0) | Lundholm Gym (881) Durham, NH |
| 01/19/2017 7:00 pm | | UMass Lowell | W 81–67 | 16–5 (6–0) | Patrick Gym (2,326) Burlington, VT |
| 01/25/2017 7:00 pm, ESPN3 | | at Albany | W 60–49 | 17–5 (7–0) | SEFCU Arena (2,822) Albany, NY |
| 01/28/2017 7:00 pm, ESPN3 | | at Stony Brook | W 71–64 | 18–5 (8–0) | Island Federal Credit Union Arena (4,009) Stony Brook, NY |
| 02/01/2017 7:00 pm | | Maine | W 74–53 | 19–5 (9–0) | Patrick Gym (2,384) Burlington, VT |
| 02/04/2017 7:00 pm | | at Hartford | W 79–66 | 20–5 (10–0) | Chase Arena at Reich Family Pavilion (1,898) Hartford, CT |
| 02/06/2017 7:00 pm | | Binghamton | W 71–51 | 21–5 (11–0) | Patrick Gym (2,615) Burlington, VT |
| 02/09/2017 9:00 pm, ESPNU | | New Hampshire | W 82–74 | 22–5 (12–0) | Patrick Gym (1,775) Burlington, VT |
| 02/12/2017 1:00 pm, ESPN3 | | at UMBC | W 77–74 | 23–5 (13–0) | Retriever Activities Center (1,219) Catonsville, MD |
| 02/15/2017 7:00 pm, ESPN3 | | at UMass Lowell | W 87–66 | 24–5 (14–0) | Tsongas Center (2,540) Lowell, MA |
| 02/22/2017 7:00 pm, ESPN3 | | Albany | W 62–50 | 25–5 (15–0) | Patrick Gym (3,266) Burlington, VT |
| 02/25/2017 2:00 pm, ESPN3 | | Stony Brook | W 66–51 | 26–5 (16–0) | Patrick Gym (3,266) Burlington, VT |
| America East tournament ||||||
| 03/01/2017 7:00 pm, ESPN3 | (1) | (8) Maine Quarterfials | W 86–41 | 27–5 | Patrick Gym (3,266) Burlington, VT |
| 03/06/2017 7:00 pm, ESPN3 | (1) | (4) New Hampshire Semifinals | W 74–41 | 28–5 | Patrick Gym (3,266) Burlington, VT |
| 03/11/2017 12:00 pm, ESPN2 | (1) | (3) Albany Championship | W 56–53 | 29–5 | Patrick Gym (3,266) Burlington, VT |
| NCAA tournament ||||||
| 03/16/2017* 7:27 pm, truTV | (13 MW) | vs. (4 MW) No. 15 Purdue First Round | L 70–80 | 29–6 | BMO Harris Bradley Center (18,025) Milwaukee, WI |
| *Non-conference game. $^#$Rankings from AP Poll. (#) Tournament seedings in parentheses. MW=Midwest Region. All times are in Eastern Time. ||||||