# 2016–17 Baylor Bears basketball team

The 2016–17 Baylor Bears basketball team represented Baylor University in the 2016–17 NCAA Division I men's basketball season. This was head coach Scott Drew's 14th season at Baylor. The Bears competed in the Big 12 Conference and played their home games at the Ferrell Center in Waco, TX. They finished the season 27–8, 12–6 in Big 12 play to finish in a three-way tie for second place. They lost to Kansas State in the quarterfinals of the Big 12 tournament. They received an at-large bid to the NCAA tournament where they defeated New Mexico State and USC before losing in the Sweet Sixteen to South Carolina.

## Previous season

The Bears finished the 2015–16 season 22–12, 10–8 in Big 12 play to finish in a tie for fifth place. They defeated Texas in the quarterfinals of the Big 12 tournament to advance to the semifinals where they lost to Kansas. They received an at-large bid to the NCAA tournament as a No. 5 seed and lost in the first round to No. 12-seeded Yale.

## Departures

| Name | Number | Pos. | Height | Weight | Year | Hometown | Notes |
| Rico Gathers | 2 | F | 6'8" | 275 | Senior | LaPlace, LA | Graduated; Entered 2016 NFL draft; Selected 6th Round, Pick #217 by the Dallas Cowboys |
| Lester Medford | 11 | G | 5'10" | 175 | Senior | Tucson, AZ | Graduated |
| John Heard | 13 | F | 6'5" | 200 | Senior | Houston, TX | Graduated |
| Taurean Prince | 21 | F | 6'7" | 220 | Senior | San Antonio, TX | Graduated; Entered 2016 NBA draft; Selected 1st Round, Pick #12 by the Utah Jazz; Traded to the Atlanta Hawks |
| Austin Mills | 33 | G | 6'1" | 175 | Senior | Beverly Hills, CA | Graduated |

### Incoming transfers

| Name | Number | Pos. | Height | Weight | Year | Hometown | Notes |
| Nuni Omot | 21 | F | 6'8" | 193 | Junior | Mahtomedi, MN | Junior college transferred from Indian Hills Community College. |

## Recruits

US college sports recruiting information for high school athletes :
| Name | Hometown | High school / college | Height | Weight | Commit date |
| Mark Vital #13 SF | Lake Charles, LA | Prime Prep Academy | 6 ft 6 in (1.98 m) | 200 lb (91 kg) | Sep 3, 2013 |
| Recruiting star ratings: Scout: Rivals: 247Sports: ESPN: ||||||
| Tyson Jolly SG | Oklahoma City, OK | Elev8 Basketball Academy | 6 ft 4 in (1.93 m) | 185 lb (84 kg) | Apr 12, 2016 |
| Recruiting star ratings: Scout: Rivals: 247Sports: ESPN: ||||||
| 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 July 9, 2016. ||||||

## Schedule and results

| Date time, TV | Rank$^#$ | Opponent$^#$ | Result | Record | Site (attendance) city, state |
| Regular season ||||||
| Nov 11, 2016* 6:30 pm, ESPNU | | Oral Roberts | W 76–61 | 1–0 | Ferrell Center (5,250) Waco, TX |
| Nov 15, 2016* 2:30 pm, ESPN2 | | No. 4 Oregon College Hoops Tip-Off Marathon | W 66–49 | 2–0 | Ferrell Center (5,891) Waco, TX |
| Nov 18, 2016* 7:00 pm, FCS | | Florida Gulf Coast Battle 4 Atlantis opening round | W 81–72 | 3–0 | Ferrell Center (5,906) Waco, TX |
| Nov 23, 2016* 1:30 pm, ESPN2 | No. 20 | vs. VCU Battle 4 Atlantis quarterfinals | W 71–63 | 4–0 | Imperial Arena (1,215) Nassau, Bahamas |
| Nov 24, 2016* 11:00 am, ESPN | No. 20 | vs. No. 24 Michigan State Battle 4 Atlantis semifinals | W 73–58 | 5–0 | Imperial Arena (1,597) Nassau, BAH |
| Nov 25, 2016* 2:30 pm, ESPN | No. 20 | vs. No. 10 Louisville Battle 4 Atlantis championship | W 66–63 | 6–0 | Imperial Arena (1,655) Nassau, BAH |
| Nov 30, 2016* 8:00 pm, FSSW+ | No. 9 | Sam Houston State | W 79–45 | 7–0 | Ferrell Center (5,029) Waco, TX |
| Dec 03, 2016* 2:30 pm, ESPN2 | No. 9 | No. 7 Xavier | W 76–61 | 8–0 | Ferrell Center (9,684) Waco, TX |
| Dec 14, 2016* 6:00 pm, ESPNU | No. 4 | Southern | W 89–59 | 9–0 | Ferrell Center (5,091) Waco, TX |
| Dec 17, 2016* 5:00 pm, FSSW+ | No. 4 | vs. Jackson State Fort Hood Showcase | W 82–57 | 10–0 | Abrams Gym (2,000) Fort Hood, TX |
| Dec 18, 2016* 3:30 pm, FSSW | No. 4 | John Brown | W 107–53 | 11–0 | Ferrell Center (5,045) Waco, TX |
| Dec 21, 2016* 6:30 pm, FSSW | No. 4 | Texas Southern | W 89–63 | 12–0 | Ferrell Center (5,347) Waco, TX |
| Dec 30, 2016 6:00 pm, ESPN2 | No. 4 | at Oklahoma | W 76–50 | 13–0 (1–0) | Lloyd Noble Center (10,254) Norman, OK |
| Jan 04, 2017 7:00 pm, ESPNews | No. 2 | Iowa State | W 65–63 | 14–0 (2–0) | Ferrell Center (7,582) Waco, TX |
| Jan 07, 2017 6:00 pm, ESPNews | No. 2 | Oklahoma State | W 61–57 | 15–0 (3–0) | Ferrell Center (10,627) Waco, TX |
| Jan 10, 2017 6:00 pm, ESPN2 | No. 1 | at No. 10 West Virginia | L 68–89 | 15–1 (3–1) | WVU Coliseum (14,632) Morgantown, WV |
| Jan 14, 2017 3:30 pm, ESPNU | No. 1 | at No. 25 Kansas State | W 77–68 | 16–1 (4–1) | Bramlage Coliseum (12,528) Manhattan, KS |
| Jan 17, 2017 6:00 pm, ESPN2 | No. 6 | Texas | W 74–64 | 17–1 (5–1) | Ferrell Center (7,604) Waco, TX |
| Jan 21, 2017 7:00 pm, ESPNU | No. 6 | at TCU | W 62–53 | 18–1 (6–1) | Schollmaier Arena (7,276) Fort Worth, TX |
| Jan 25, 2017 7:00 pm, ESPNews | No. 5 | Texas Tech | W 65–61 | 19–1 (7–1) | Ferrell Center (7,059) Waco, TX |
| Jan 28, 2017* 5:00 pm, ESPN2 | No. 5 | at Ole Miss Big 12/SEC Challenge | W 78–75 | 20–1 | The Pavilion at Ole Miss (9,411) Oxford, MS |
| Feb 01, 2017 8:00 pm, ESPN2 | No. 2 | at No. 3 Kansas | L 68–73 | 20–2 (7–2) | Allen Fieldhouse (16,300) Lawrence, KS |
| Feb 04, 2017 2:00 pm, ESPNews | No. 2 | Kansas State | L 54–56 | 20–3 (7–3) | Ferrell Center (7,729) Waco, TX |
| Feb 08, 2017 6:00 pm, ESPNU | No. 6 | at Oklahoma State | W 72–69 | 21–3 (8–3) | Gallagher-Iba Arena (8,170) Stillwater, OK |
| Feb 11, 2017 1:00 pm, ESPNU | No. 6 | TCU | W 70–52 | 22–3 (9–3) | Ferrell Center (7,906) Waco, TX |
| Feb 13, 2017 6:00 pm, ESPNews | No. 4 | at Texas Tech | L 78–84 | 22–4 (9–4) | United Supermarkets Arena (9,202) Lubbock, TX |
| Feb 18, 2017 12:00 pm, CBS | No. 4 | No. 3 Kansas | L 65–67 | 22–5 (9–5) | Ferrell Center (10,021) Waco, TX |
| Feb 21, 2017 6:00 pm, ESPN2 | No. 9 | Oklahoma | W 60–54 | 23–5 (10–5) | Ferrell Center (6,135) Waco, TX |
| Feb 25, 2017 3:00 pm, ESPN | No. 9 | at Iowa State | L 69–72 | 23–6 (10–6) | Hilton Coliseum (14,384) Ames, IA |
| Feb 27, 2017 6:00 pm, ESPNU | No. 11 | No. 10 West Virginia | W 71–62 | 24–6 (11–6) | Ferrell Center (8,203) Waco, TX |
| Mar 04, 2017 3:00 pm, ESPN | No. 11 | at Texas | W 75–64 | 25–6 (12–6) | Frank Erwin Center (12,195) Austin, TX |
| Big 12 tournament ||||||
| Mar 09, 2017 8:00 pm, ESPNU | (3) No. 9 | vs. (6) Kansas State Quarterfinals | L 64–70 | 25–7 | Sprint Center (18,837) Kansas City, MO |
| NCAA tournament ||||||
| Mar 17, 2017* 11:40 am, truTV | (3 E) No. 12 | vs. (14 E) New Mexico State First Round | W 91–73 | 26–7 | BOK Center (13,571) Tulsa, OK |
| Mar 19, 2017* 6:45 pm, truTV | (3 E) No. 12 | vs. (11 E) USC Second Round | W 82–78 | 27–7 | BOK Center (13,571) Tulsa, OK |
| Mar 24, 2017* 6:29 pm, TBS | (3 E) No. 12 | vs. (7 E) South Carolina Sweet Sixteen | L 50–70 | 27–8 | Madison Square Garden (19,812) New York, NY |
| *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 ( ) = First-place 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 | — | — | 20 | 9 (1) | 4 (6) | 4 (6) | 4 (6) | 4 (6) | 2 (6) | 1 (55) | 6 | 5 | 2 | 6 | 4 | 9 | 11 | 9 | 12 | Not released |
| Coaches | — | — | RV | 11 | 6 | 5 | 6 | 4 | 3 | 1 (22) | 6 | 5 | 3 | 8 | 4 | 9 | 11 | 10 | 11 | 12 |
*AP does not release post-NCAA tournament rankings