2016–17 ASUN Conference men's basketball season

The 2016–17 ASUN Conference men's basketball season began with practices in October 2016, followed by the start of the 2016–17 NCAA Division I men's basketball season in November. Conference play began on January 24, 2017 and concluded on February 23, 2017. The season marked the 39th season of ASUN Conference basketball, and also the first under the conference's current branding with the ASUN name.^[1]

2016–17 ASUN Conference men's basketball season
League	NCAA Division I
Sport	Basketball
Number of teams	8
Regular season
Champions	Florida Gulf Coast
Season MVP	Dallas Moore, North Florida
Tournament
Champions	Florida Gulf Coast
Runners-up	North Florida

2016–17 ASUN men's basketball standings

v t e	Conf							Overall
Team	W		L		PCT			W		L		PCT
Florida Gulf Coast †	12	–	2		.857			26	–	8		.765
Lipscomb	11	–	3		.786			20	–	13		.606
North Florida	8	–	6		.571			15	–	19		.441
USC Upstate	7	–	7		.500			17	–	16		.515
Kennesaw State	7	–	7		.500			14	–	18		.438
Jacksonville	5	–	9		.357			17	–	16		.515
NJIT	3	–	11		.214			11	–	20		.355
Stetson	3	–	11		.214			11	–	21		.344
† 2017 ASUN Tournament winner

Florida Gulf Coast won the regular season championship by one game over Lipscomb.^[2] The ASUN tournament was held from February 27 through March 5 at campus sites as top seeds hosted each round. Florida Gulf Coast defeated North Florida in the championship game to win the tournament championship.^[3] As a result, Florida Gulf Coast received the conference's automatic bid to the NCAA tournament.^[4]

North Florida's Dallas Moore was named conference player of the year.^[5] Florida Gulf Coast’s head coach Joe Dooley was named conference coach of the year.^[5]

In addition to Florida Gulf Coast's invitation to the NCAA Tournament, USC Upstate and Jacksonville were invited to the CollegeInsider.com Postseason Tournament.^[6][7]

Conference matrix

	Florida Gulf Coast	Jacksonville	Kennesaw State	Lipscomb	NJIT	North Florida	Stetson	USC Upstate
vs. Florida Gulf Coast	—	0–2	0–2	1–1	0–2	0–2	0–2	1–1
vs. Jacksonville	2–0	—	1–1	2–0	0–1	2–0	0–2	2–0
vs. Kennesaw State	2–0	1–1	—	2–0	0–2	1–1	0–2	1–1
vs. Lipscomb	1–1	0–2	0–2	—	0–2	2–0	0–2	0–1
vs. NJIT	2–0	2–0	2–0	2–0	—	1–1	1–1	1–1
vs. North Florida	2–0	1–1	1–1	0–2	1–1	—	1–1	1–1
vs. Stetson	2–0	2–0	2–0	2–0	1–1	1–1	—	1–1
vs. USC Upstate	1–1	0–2	1–1	2–0	1–1	1–1	1–1	—
Total	12–2	5–9	7–7	11–3	3–11	8–6	3–11	7–7

Points scored

Conference regular season

Team	For	Against	Difference
Florida Gulf Coast	1092	990	102
Jacksonville	1043	1109	-66
Kennesaw State	1077	1050	27
Lipscomb	1191	1079	112
NJIT	983	1069	-86
North Florida	1114	1082	32
Stetson	1098	1203	-105
USC Upstate	1089	1089	0

Through February 23, 2017

All-ASUN Awards

Honor	Recipient
Player of the Year	Dallas Moore, North Florida
Coach of the Year	Joe Dooley, Florida Gulf Coast
Rookie of the Year	Wajid Aminu, North Florida
All-ASUN First Team	Dallas Moore, North Florida
	Brandon Goodwin, Florida Gulf Coast
	Garrison Mathews, Lipscomb
	Kendrick Ray, Kennesaw State
	Michael Buchanan, South Carolina Upstate
All-ASUN Second Team	J.R. Holder, Jacksonville
	Aubrey Williams, Kennesaw State
	Rob Marberry, Lipscomb
	Damon Lynn, New Jersey Institute of Technology
	Derick Newton, Stetson
All-ASUN Freshmen Team	Wajid Aminu, North Florida
	Tanner Rubio, Jacksonville
	James Scott, Kennesaw State
	Anthony Tarke, NJIT
	Garrett Sams, North Florida

Source^[8]

Postseason

Time	Matchup	Score	Television	Attendance
Quarterfinals – Monday, February 27
7:00 p.m.	No. 8 Stetson at No. 1 Florida Gulf Coast	57–87	ESPN3	3,744
7:00 p.m.	No. 5 Kennesaw State at No. 4 USC Upstate	80–78		735
7:00 p.m.	No. 6 Jacksonville at No. 3 North Florida	74–77		2,938
8:00 p.m.	No. 7 NJIT at No. 2 Lipscomb	66–97		2,456
Semifinals – Thursday, March 2
7:00 p.m.	No. 5 Kennesaw State at No. 1 Florida Gulf Coast	62–74	ESPN3	4,333
8:00 p.m.	No. 3 North Florida at No. 2 Lipscomb	91–85		3,011
Final – Sunday, March 5
3:00 p.m.	No. 3 North Florida at No. 1 Florida Gulf Coast	61–77	ESPN	4,711
*Game times in ET. No.-Rankings denote tournament seeding.

References

1. "Conference Student-Athletes Unveil New ASUN Brand Identity" (Press release). ASUN Conference. April 28, 2016.
2. "Zach Johnson shoots FGCU to win over Stetson". FGCUEaglesNest.com. Retrieved July 27, 2017.
3. "North Florida vs. Florida Gulf Coast - Game Recap - March 5, 2017 - ESPN". ESPN.com. Retrieved July 27, 2017.
4. "Florida Gulf Coast tops North Florida 77-61 to claim NCAA berth". USA TODAY. Retrieved July 27, 2017.
5. "Atlantic Sun Conference Releases 2016-2017 Award Winners". www.fanragsports.com. Archived from the original on June 18, 2018. Retrieved July 27, 2017.
6. "USC Upstate News". news.uscupstate.edu. Retrieved July 27, 2017.
7. "CIT 2017: Bracket, schedule, live stream info, and scores". SBNation.com. Retrieved July 27, 2017.
8. "Atlantic Sun Conference Releases 2016-2017 Award Winners". www.fanragsports.com. Archived from the original on June 18, 2018. Retrieved July 27, 2017.