# 2016–17 American Eagles men's basketball team

The 2016–17 American Eagles men's basketball team represented American University during the 2016–17 NCAA Division I men's basketball season. The Eagles, led by fourth-year head coach Mike Brennan, played their home games at Bender Arena in Washington, D.C. as members of the Patriot League. They finished the season 8–22, 5–13 in Patriot League play to finish in a tie for ninth place. As the No. 9 seed in the Patriot League tournament, they lost in the first round to Army.

## Previous season

The Eagles finished the 2015–16 season 12–19, 9–9 in Patriot League play to finish in a four-way tie for fourth place. They defeated Boston University in the quarterfinals of the Patriot League tournament to advance the semifinals where they lost to Lehigh.

## Offseason
### Departures

| Name | Number | Pos. | Height | Weight | Year | Hometown | Notes |
| Marko Vasic | 5 | F | 6'5" | 200 | Senior | Belgrade, Serbia | Graduated |
| Jesse Reed | 14 | G | 6'5" | 185 | Senior | Saltsburg, PA | Graduated |
| Gabe Brown | 34 | C | 7'0" | 230 | Sophomore | Berlin, Germany | Transferred to Rockhurst |
| Paris Maragkos | 42 | F/C | 6'9" | 243 | RS Junior | Marousi, Greece | Signed to play professionally in Greece with Olympiacos B.C. |

### Incoming transfers

| Name | Number | Pos. | Height | Weight | Year | Hometown | Previous School |
| Larry Motuzis | 5 | G | 6'6" | 190 | RS Sophomore | Darien, IL | Transferred from Saint Xavier. Motuzis will be eligible to play. |
| Matt Cimino | 22 | F | 6'10" | 212 | Junior | Falmouth, ME | Transferred from George Washington. Under NCAA transfer rules, Cimino will have to sit out from the 2016–17 season. Will have two years of remaining eligibility. |

### 2016 recruiting class

College recruiting information :
| Name | Hometown | High school / college | Height | Weight | Commit date |
| Mark Gasperini #65 C | Brookline, MA | Brimmer & May | 6 ft 9 in (2.06 m) | N/A | Sep 22, 2015 |
| Star ratings: Scout: N/A Rivals: N/A 247Sports: N/A ESPN grade: 64 ||||||
| Sa'eed Nelson #82 PG | Pleasantville, NJ | Saint Augustine Prep | 5 ft 11 in (1.80 m) | N/A | Oct 5, 2015 |
| Star ratings: Scout: N/A Rivals: N/A 247Sports: N/A ESPN grade: 59 ||||||
| 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 6, 2016. ||||||

## Schedule and results

| Date time, TV | Rank$^#$ | Opponent$^#$ | Result | Record | Site (attendance) city, state |
| Non-conference regular season ||||||
| 11/11/2016* 7:00 pm, BTN | | at No. 25 Maryland | L 56–62 | 0–1 | Xfinity Center (17,078) College Park, MD |
| 11/14/2016* 8:00 pm | | at Texas A&M | L 53–76 | 0–2 | Reed Arena (6,043) College Station, TX |
| 11/17/2016* 7:00 pm | | at Akron | L 62–72 | 0–3 | James A. Rhodes Arena (2,785) Akron, OH |
| 11/22/2016* 7:30 pm | | Wagner | L 65–73 | 0–4 | Bender Arena (488) Washington, D.C. |
| 11/26/2016* 2:00 pm | | Saint Francis (PA) | L 62–69 | 0–5 | Bender Arena (432) Washington, D.C. |
| 11/29/2016* 7:30 pm | | Western Illinois | W 57–50 | 1–5 | Bender Arena (686) Washington, D.C. |
| 12/03/2016* 7:00 pm | | at Howard | L 54–71 | 1–6 | Burr Gymnasium (1,389) Washington, D.C. |
| 12/06/2016* 7:30 pm | | New Hampshire | L 70–80 | 1–7 | Bender Arena (474) Washington, D.C. |
| 12/10/2016* 2:00 pm | | Youngstown State | W 77–62 | 2–7 | Bender Arena (1,143) Washington, D.C. |
| 12/19/2016* 12:00 pm | | Maryland Eastern Shore | W 61–58 | 3–7 | Bender Arena (418) Washington, D.C. |
| 12/21/2016* 6:30 pm, FS1 | | at No. 1 Villanova | L 48–90 | 3–8 | The Pavilion (6,500) Villanova, PA |
| Patriot League regular season ||||||
| 12/30/2016 7:30 pm | | Loyola (MD) | L 66–68 | 3–9 (0–1) | Bender Arena (523) Washington, D.C. |
| 01/02/2017 7:00 pm | | at Colgate | W 67–64 $^{OT}$ | 4–9 (1–1) | Cotterell Court (766) Hamilton, NY |
| 01/05/2017 7:30 pm | | Bucknell | L 60–69 | 4–10 (1–2) | Bender Arena (512) Washington, D.C. |
| 01/08/2017 2:00 pm | | at Lehigh | L 73–79 | 4–11 (1–3) | Stabler Arena (937) Bethlehem, PA |
| 01/11/2017 7:00 pm | | at Boston University | L 66–76 | 4–12 (1–4) | Case Gym (298) Boston, MA |
| 01/14/2017 2:00 pm | | Army | L 49–53 | 4–13 (1–5) | Bender Arena (714) Washington, D.C. |
| 01/18/2017 7:30 pm | | Lafayette | W 71–57 | 5–13 (2–5) | Bender Arena (857) Washington, D.C. |
| 01/23/2017 7:00 pm, CBSSN | | at Holy Cross | L 55–63 | 5–14 (2–6) | Hart Center (1,744) Worcester, MA |
| 01/25/2017 7:30 pm | | Navy | L 53–71 | 5–15 (2–7) | Bender Arena (757) Washington, D.C. |
| 01/28/2017 2:00 pm, CBSSN | | Colgate | L 65–70 | 5–16 (2–8) | Bender Arena (913) Washington, D.C. |
| 02/01/2017 7:30 pm | | at Bucknell | L 60–80 | 5–17 (2–9) | Sojka Pavilion (1,939) Lewisburg, PA |
| 02/04/2017 2:00 pm | | Lehigh | L 55–70 | 5–18 (2–10) | Bender Arena (984) Washington, D.C. |
| 02/08/2017 7:30 pm | | Boston University | L 64–67 | 5–19 (2–11) | Bender Arena (1,014) Washington, D.C. |
| 02/11/2017 2:00 pm | | at Army | W 61–58 | 6–19 (3–11) | Christl Arena (1,057) West Point, NY |
| 02/15/2017 7:00 pm | | at Lafayette | L 65–78 | 6–20 (3–12) | Kirby Sports Center (1,247) Easton, PA |
| 02/19/2017 2:00 pm | | Holy Cross | L 54–69 | 6–21 (3–13) | Bender Arena Washington, D.C. |
| 02/22/2017 7:00 pm | | at Navy | W 74–58 | 7–21 (4–13) | Alumni Hall (2,666) Annapolis, MD |
| 02/25/2017 12:00 pm | | at Loyola (MD) | W 64–62 | 8–21 (5–13) | Reitz Arena (786) Baltimore, MD |
| Patriot League tournament ||||||
| 02/28/2017 7:00 pm | (9) | at (8) Army First round | L 58–74 | 8–22 | Christl Arena (263) West Point, NY |
| *Non-conference game. $^#$Rankings from AP poll. (#) Tournament seedings in parentheses. All times are in Eastern Time Source. ||||||