# 2016–17 SMU Mustangs men's basketball team

The 2016–17 SMU Mustangs men's basketball team represented Southern Methodist University (SMU) during the 2016–17 NCAA Division I men's basketball season. The Mustangs were led by first-year head coach Tim Jankovich and played their home games on their campus in University Park, Texas at Moody Coliseum. They were members of the American Athletic Conference. They finished the season 30–5, 17–1 in AAC play to win the AAC regular season championship. In the AAC tournament, they defeated East Carolina, UCF, and Cincinnati to win the tournament championship. As a result, they received the conference's automatic bid to the NCAA tournament. As the No. 6 seed in the East region, they lost in the First Round to #11 USC.

## Previous season

The Mustangs finished the 2015–16 season with a record of 25–5, 13–5 in AAC play to finish in second place in conference. Due to multiple NCAA violations, including academic fraud and unethical conduct, SMU was ineligible for all postseason play including the AAC tournament and NCAA tournament. Additionally, head coach Larry Brown was suspended for nine games.
On July 8, 2016, Larry Brown resigned as head coach. A few days later, the school named Tim Jankovich head coach.

## Offseason
### Departures

| Name | Number | Pos. | Height | Weight | Year | Hometown | Notes |
| Sedrick Barefield | 2 | G | 6'2" | 190 | Freshman | Corona, CA | Transferred to Utah |
| Keith Frazier | 4 | G | 6'5" | 190 | Junior | Dallas, TX | Transferred to North Texas |
| Markus Kennedy | 5 | F | 6'9" | 245 | RS Senior | Philadelphia, PA | Graduated |
| Nic Moore | 11 | G | 5'9" | 170 | RS Senior | Winona Lake, IN | Graduated |
| Jordan Tolbert | 23 | F | 6'7" | 240 | RS Senior | Fort Worth, TX | Graduated |

### Incoming Transfers

| Name | Number | Pos. | Height | Weight | Year | Hometown | Notes |
| Jimmy Whitt | 31 | G | 6'4" | 173 | Sophomore | Columbia, MO | Transferred from Arkansas. Under NCAA transfer rules, Whitt will have to sit out for the 2016–17 season. Will have three years of remaining eligibility. Whitt was a 4-Star Guard (68) overall out of High School. |

### 2016 recruiting class

US college sports recruiting information for high school athletes :
| Name | Hometown | High school / college | Height | Weight | Commit date |
| Dashawn McDowell PG | Oklahoma City, OK | Southeast High School | 6 ft 5 in (1.96 m) | 185 lb (84 kg) | Sep 5, 2015 |
| Recruiting star ratings: Scout: Rivals: 247Sports: N/A ESPN grade: NR ||||||
| Tom Wilson SG | Melbourne, Australia | Australian Institute of Sport | 6 ft 4 in (1.93 m) | 170 lb (77 kg) | Oct 21, 2015 |
| Recruiting star ratings: Scout: Rivals: 247Sports: N/A ESPN grade: NR ||||||
| Harry Froling PF | Townsville, Australia | Australian Institute of Sport | 6 ft 9 in (2.06 m) | 220 lb (100 kg) | Jan 25, 2016 |
| Recruiting star ratings: Scout: Rivals: 247Sports: N/A ESPN grade: NR ||||||
| 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 SMU Recruiting List". Rivals.com. "2016 SMU Recruiting List". Scout.com. "2016 SMU Recruiting List". ESPN.com. "Scout.com Team Recruiting Rankings". Scout.com. "2016 Team Ranking". Rivals.com. ||||||

## Schedule and results

| Date time, TV | Rank$^#$ | Opponent$^#$ | Result | Record | Site (attendance) city, state |
| Non-conference regular season ||||||
| November 11, 2016* 7:00 pm, ESPN3 | | Gardner–Webb 2K Sports Classic | W 72–44 | 1–0 | Moody Coliseum (6,852) Dallas, TX |
| November 13, 2016* 1:00 pm, ESPN3 | | Eastern Michigan 2K Sports Classic | W 91–64 | 2–0 | Moody Coliseum (6,852) Dallas, TX |
| November 17, 2016* 6:00 pm, ESPN2 | | vs. Pittsburgh 2K Sports Classic semifinals | W 76–67 | 3–0 | Madison Square Garden (8,126) New York, NY |
| November 18, 2016* 6:00 pm, ESPN2 | | vs. Michigan 2K Sports Classic championship | L 54–76 | 3–1 | Madison Square Garden (8,088) New York, NY |
| November 22, 2016* 8:00 pm, SPCSN/ESPN3 | | UC Santa Barbara | W 84–57 | 4–1 | Moody Coliseum (6,852) Dallas, TX |
| November 25, 2016* 6:00 pm, P12N | | at USC | L 73–78 | 4–2 | Galen Center (3,713) Los Angeles, CA |
| November 30, 2016* 8:00 pm, MWN | | at Boise State | L 62–71 | 4–3 | Taco Bell Arena (4,812) Boise, ID |
| December 2, 2016* 7:00 pm, SPCSN/ESPN3 | | Cal State Bakersfield | W 49–43 | 5–3 | Moody Coliseum (6,852) Dallas, TX |
| December 4, 2016* 7:00 pm, SPCSN/ESPN3 | | Delaware State | W 74–60 | 6–3 | Moody Coliseum (6,852) Dallas, TX |
| December 7, 2016* 7:00 pm, ESPNews | | TCU | W 74–59 | 7–3 | Moody Coliseum (6,872) Dallas, TX |
| December 14, 2016* 7:00 pm, SPCSN/ESPN3 | | McNeese State | W 92–56 | 8–3 | Moody Coliseum (6,498) Dallas, TX |
| December 19, 2016* 8:00 pm, ESPN2 | | Stanford | W 72–49 | 9–3 | Moody Coliseum (6,923) Dallas, TX |
| December 20, 2016* 7:00 pm | | Albany | W 71–53 | 10–3 | Moody Coliseum (6,505) Dallas, TX |
| AAC regular season ||||||
| December 27, 2016 8:00 pm, ESPNU | | at Memphis | W 58–54 | 11–3 (1–0) | FedEx Forum (10,305) Memphis, TN |
| December 31, 2016 11:00 am, ASN/ESPN3 | | at East Carolina | W 75–44 | 12–3 (2–0) | Williams Arena (3,698) Greenville, NC |
| January 4, 2017 8:00 pm, CBSSN | | Temple | W 79–65 | 13–3 (3–0) | Moody Coliseum (6,782) Dallas, TX |
| January 7, 2017 4:00 pm, ESPNews | | South Florida | W 84–65 | 14–3 (4–0) | Moody Coliseum (6,769) Dallas, TX |
| January 12, 2017 8:00 pm, ESPN | | at No. 22 Cincinnati | L 64–66 | 14–4 (4–1) | Fifth Third Arena (11,344) Cincinnati, OH |
| January 15, 2017 5:00 pm, CBSSN | | at Tulane | W 80–64 | 15–4 (5–1) | Devlin Fieldhouse (1,323) New Orleans, LA |
| January 19, 2017 6:00 pm, ESPN2 | | UConn | W 69–49 | 16–4 (6–1) | Moody Coliseum (6,978) Dallas, TX |
| January 21, 2017 5:00 pm, ESPNU | | Houston | W 85–64 | 17–4 (7–1) | Moody Coliseum (7,002) Dallas, TX |
| January 25, 2017 5:00 pm, ESPNews | | at UCF | W 65–60 | 18–4 (8–1) | CFE Arena (4,620) Orlando, FL |
| February 1, 2017 8:00 pm, ESPNews | | East Carolina | W 86–46 | 19–4 (9–1) | Moody Coliseum (6,723) Dallas, TX |
| February 4, 2017 6:00 pm, ESPNews | | at Tulsa | W 76–53 | 20–4 (10–1) | Reynolds Center (5,606) Tulsa, OK |
| February 9, 2017 8:00 pm, ESPN2 | No. 25 | at Temple | W 66–50 | 21–4 (11–1) | Liacouras Center (4,603) Philadelphia, PA |
| February 12, 2017 3:00 pm, ESPN | No. 25 | No. 11 Cincinnati | W 60–51 | 22–4 (12–1) | Moody Coliseum (7,518) Dallas, TX |
| February 15, 2017 8:00 pm, ASN/ESPN3 | No. 19 | Tulane | W 80–75 | 23–4 (13–1) | Moody Coliseum (6,850) Dallas, TX |
| February 18, 2017 5:00 pm, ESPN2 | No. 19 | at Houston | W 76–66 | 24–4 (14–1) | Hofheinz Pavilion (8,479) Houston, TX |
| February 25, 2017 11:00 am, CBS | No. 17 | at UConn | W 69–61 | 25–4 (15–1) | XL Center (13,553) Hartford, CT |
| March 2, 2017 7:00 pm, CBSSN | No. 14 | Tulsa | W 90–73 | 26–4 (16–1) | Moody Coliseum (7,242) Dallas, TX |
| March 4, 2017 3:00 pm, ESPN2 | No. 14 | Memphis | W 103–62 | 27–4 (17–1) | Moody Coliseum (7,242) Dallas, TX |
| American Athletic Conference tournament ||||||
| March 10, 2017 12:00pm, ESPN2 | (1) No. 12 | vs. (9) East Carolina Quarterfinals | W 81–77 | 28–4 | XL Center (1,844) Hartford, CT |
| March 11, 2017 2:00pm, ESPN2 | (1) No. 12 | vs. (4) UCF Semifinals | W 70–59 | 29–4 | XL Center (8,177) Hartford, CT |
| March 12, 2017 2:00pm, ESPN | (1) No. 12 | vs. (2) No. 15 Cincinnati Championship | W 71–56 | 30–4 | XL Center (6,856) Hartford, CT |
| NCAA tournament ||||||
| March 17, 2017* 2:10pm, truTV | (6 E) No. 11 | vs. (11 E) USC First Round | L 65–66 | 30–5 | BOK Center (13,571) Tulsa, OK |
| *Non-conference game. $^#$Rankings from AP Poll. (#) Tournament seedings in parentheses. E=East Region. All times are in Central Time. ||||||

## Rankings

Ranking movements Legend: ██ Increase in ranking ██ Decrease in ranking — = Not ranked RV = Received votes :
| | Week | Week | Week | Week | Week | Week | Week | Week | Week | Week | Week | Week | Week | Week | Week | Week | Week | Week | Week | Week |
| Poll | Pre | 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5 | 6 | 7 | 8 | 9 | 10 | 11 | 12 | 13 | 14 | 15 | 16 | 17 | 18 | Final |
| AP | — | RV | — | — | — | — | — | — | — | RV | RV | RV | RV | 25 | 19 | 17 | 14 | 12 | 11 | Not released |
| Coaches' | RV | RV | — | — | — | — | — | — | — | RV | RV | RV | RV | RV | 23 | 21 | 19 | 15 | 13 | 23 |