# 2016–17 Yale Bulldogs men's basketball team

The 2016–17 Yale Bulldogs men's basketball team represented Yale University during the 2016–17 NCAA Division I men's basketball season. The Bulldogs, led by 18th-year head coach James Jones, played their home games at John J. Lee Amphitheater of the Payne Whitney Gymnasium in New Haven, Connecticut and were members of the Ivy League. They finished the season 18–11, 10–4 in Ivy League play, to finish in third place. In the inaugural Ivy League tournament, they defeated Harvard before losing to Princeton in the championship game.

## Previous season

The Bulldogs finished the 2015–16 season 23–7, 13–1 in Ivy League play, to win the Ivy League championship. They received the Ivy's automatic bid to the NCAA tournament, their first NCAA bid since 1962, where they defeated Baylor in the first round to advance to the second round where they lost to Duke.

## Offseason
### Departures

| Name | Number | Pos. | Height | Weight | Year | Hometown | Notes |
| Khaliq Ghani | 00 | G | 6'5" | 205 | Senior | Inglewood, CA | Graduated |
| Jack Montague | 4 | G | 6'0" | 185 | Senior | Brentwood, TN | Expelled |
| Nick Victor | 21 | G | 6'5" | 220 | Senior | Dallas, TX | Graduated |
| Justin Sears | 22 | F | 6'8" | 205 | Senior | Plainfield, NJ | Graduated |
| Brandon Sherrod | 35 | F | 6'6" | 240 | Senior | Bridgeport, CT | Graduated |
| Sem Kroon | 50 | F | 6'10" | 240 | Sophomore | Riverside, CT | Left the team for personal reasons |

### 2016 recruiting class

US college sports recruiting information for high school athletes :
| Name | Hometown | High school / college | Height | Weight | Commit date |
| Jordan Bruner PF | Columbia, SC | Spring Valley High School | 6 ft 7 in (2.01 m) | 190 lb (86 kg) | Nov 13, 2015 |
| Recruiting star ratings: Scout: Rivals: N/A 247Sports: N/A ESPN grade: 79 ||||||
| Eric Monroe PG | San Diego, CA | Saint Augustine High School | 6 ft 2 in (1.88 m) | 170 lb (77 kg) | Aug 4, 2024 |
| Recruiting star ratings: Scout: Rivals: N/A 247Sports: N/A ESPN grade: 69 ||||||
| Miye Oni SF | Porter Ranch, CA | Viewpoint School, Suffield Academy | 6 ft 6 in (1.98 m) | 190 lb (86 kg) | Jul 1, 2024 |
| Recruiting star ratings: Scout: N/A Rivals: N/A 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 Team Ranking". Rivals.com. Retrieved September 22, 2016. ||||||

### 2017 recruiting class

US college sports recruiting information for 2017 recruits :
| Name | Hometown | High school / college | Height | Weight | Commit date |
| Azar Swain SG | Boston, MA | The Rivers School | 6 ft 1 in (1.85 m) | 160 lb (73 kg) | |
| Recruiting star ratings: Scout: N/A Rivals: N/A 247Sports: N/A ESPN grade: 59 |||||||
| Jalen Gabbidon SG | Harrisburg, PA | Glenelg Country School | 6 ft 5 in (1.96 m) | 185 lb (84 kg) | Aug 7, 2024 |
| Recruiting star ratings: Scout: N/A Rivals: N/A 247Sports: N/A ESPN grade: NR |||||||
| Paul Atkinson PF | Palm Beach Gardens, FL | Westminster Academy | 6 ft 8 in (2.03 m) | 220 lb (100 kg) | Sep 4, 2024 |
| Recruiting star ratings: Scout: N/A Rivals: N/A 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: "2017 Team Ranking". Rivals.com. Retrieved September 22, 2016. |||||||

## Schedule and results

| Date time, TV | Rank$^#$ | Opponent$^#$ | Result | Record | Site (attendance) city, state |
| Non-conference regular season ||||||
| November 13, 2016* 5:00 p.m., P12N | | at Washington | W 98–90 | 1–0 | Alaska Airlines Arena (7,456) Seattle, WA |
| November 17, 2016* 7:00 p.m. | | Lehigh | W 89–81 $^{OT}$ | 2–0 | John J. Lee Amphitheater (1,062) New Haven, CT |
| November 20, 2016* 1:00 p.m., ACCN Extra | | at No. 8 Virginia | W 62–38 | 2–1 | John Paul Jones Arena (14,242) Charlottesville, VA |
| November 22, 2016* 7:00 p.m., ACCN Extra | | at Pittsburgh | L 70–75 | 2–2 | Petersen Events Center (6,719) Pittsburgh, PA |
| November 26, 2016* 1:00 p.m. | | at Vermont | L 65–67 | 2–3 | Patrick Gym (2,173) Burlington, VT |
| November 30, 2016* 7:00 p.m. | | at Bryant | L 70–79 | 2–4 | Chace Athletic Center Smithfield, RI |
| December 3, 2016* 2:00 p.m. | | Albany | W 59–55 | 3–4 | John J. Lee Amphitheater (1,204) New Haven, CT |
| December 8, 2016* 8:00 p.m. | | at Sacred Heart | W 66–52 | 4–4 | William H. Pitt Center Fairfield, CT |
| December 11, 2016* 2:00 p.m. | | Delaware | W 81–63 | 5–4 | John J. Lee Amphitheater (1,014) New Haven, CT |
| December 13, 2016* 7:00 p.m. | | Central Connecticut | W 90–59 | 6–4 | John J. Lee Amphitheater (756) New Haven, CT |
| December 22, 2016* 7:00 p.m., ESPNU | | at Temple | L 77–83 | 6–5 | Liacouras Center (4,775) Philadelphia, PA |
| January 2, 2017* 7:00 p.m. | | Hartford | W 88–72 | 7–5 | John J. Lee Amphitheater (747) New Haven, CT |
| January 7, 2017* 2:00 p.m. | | Mitchell | W 102–46 | 8–5 | John J. Lee Amphitheater (739) New Haven, CT |
| Ivy League regular season ||||||
| January 13, 2017 8:00 p.m. | | at Penn | W 68–60 | 9–5 (1–0) | The Palestra (2,903) Philadelphia, PA |
| January 14, 2017 8:00 p.m., ONE | | at Princeton | L 58–66 | 9–6 (1–1) | Jadwin Gymnasium (2,262) Princeton, NJ |
| January 20, 2017 8:00 p.m., ESPN3 | | at Brown | W 75–74 | 10–6 (2–1) | Pizzitola Sports Center (1,217) Providence, RI |
| January 27, 2017 8:00 p.m. | | Brown | W 85–75 | 11–6 (3–1) | John J. Lee Amphitheater (1,673) New Haven, CT |
| February 3, 2017 7:00 p.m. | | at Columbia | W 87–78 | 12–6 (4–1) | Levien Gymnasium (2,187) New York City, NY |
| February 4, 2017 6:00 p.m. | | at Cornell | W 78–71 | 13–6 (5–1) | Newman Arena (875) Ithaca, NY |
| February 10, 2017 7:00 p.m. | | Dartmouth | W 73–64 | 14–6 (6–1) | John J. Lee Amphitheater (1,284) New Haven, CT |
| February 11, 2017 7:00 p.m., ONE | | Harvard | L 67–75 | 14–7 (6–2) | John J. Lee Amphitheater (2,532) New Haven, CT |
| February 17, 2017 8:00 p.m., ESPN3 | | Princeton | L 52–71 | 14–8 (6–3) | John J. Lee Amphitheater (1,846) New Haven, CT |
| February 18, 2017 1:00 p.m., ASN | | Penn | L 55–71 | 14–9 (6–4) | John J. Lee Amphitheater (1,567) New Haven, CT |
| February 24, 2017 7:00 p.m., ESPN3 | | at Harvard | L 64–77 | 14–10 (6–5) | Lavietes Pavilion (2,195) Cambridge, MA |
| February 25, 2017 7:00 p.m., ESPN3 | | at Dartmouth | W 99–86 | 15–10 (7–5) | Leede Arena (937) Hanover, NH |
| March 3, 2017 7:00 p.m., ESPN3 | | Cornell | W 90–63 | 16–10 (8–5) | John J. Lee Amphitheater (1,411) New Haven, CT |
| March 4, 2017 7:00 p.m. | | Columbia | W 75–71 | 17–10 (9–5) | John J. Lee Amphitheater (1,787) New Haven, CT |
| Ivy League men's tournament ||||||
| March 11, 2017 4:00 p.m., ESPNU | (3) | vs. (2) Harvard Semifinals | W 73–71 | 18–10 | The Palestra (8,722) Philadelphia, PA |
| March 12, 2017 12:00 p.m., ESPN2 | (3) | vs. (1) Princeton Championship | L 59–71 | 18–11 | The Palestra Philadelphia, PA |
| *Non-conference game. $^#$Rankings from AP poll. (#) Tournament seedings in parentheses. All times are in Eastern. ||||||
Source:

## Rankings

Ranking movements Legend: 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 | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | Not released |
| Coaches' | RV | | RV | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | |