2016–17 Southeastern Conference women's basketball season

2016–17 SEC Women's Basketball Season
League	NCAA Division I
Sport	Basketball
Number of teams	14
TV partner(s)	ESPN2, SEC Network, FSN
WNBA Draft
Top draft pick	Alaina Coates (South Carolina)
Picked by	Chicago Sky
Regular season
Season champions	South Carolina
Runners-up	Mississippi State
Season MVP	A'ja Wilson (South Carolina)
Tournament
Champions	South Carolina
Runners-up	Mississippi State
Finals MVP	A'ja Wilson

2016–17 SEC women's basketball standings

v t e	Conf							Overall
Team	W		L		PCT			W		L		PCT
No. 3 South Carolina†	14	–	2		.875			33	–	4		.892
No. 7 Mississippi State	13	–	3		.813			34	–	5		.872
No. 18 Kentucky	11	–	5		.688			22	–	11		.667
No. 25 Missouri	11	–	5		.688			21	–	11		.656
Tennessee	10	–	6		.625			20	–	12		.625
Texas A&M	9	–	7		.563			22	–	12		.647
LSU	8	–	8		.500			20	–	12		.625
Auburn	7	–	9		.438			17	–	15		.531
Georgia	7	–	9		.438			16	–	15		.516
Ole Miss	6	–	10		.375			17	–	14		.548
Alabama	5	–	11		.313			22	–	14		.611
Florida	5	–	11		.313			15	–	16		.484
Vanderbilt	4	–	12		.250			14	–	16		.467
Arkansas	2	–	14		.125			13	–	17		.433
† 2017 SEC tournament winner Rankings from AP poll

The 2016–17 Southeastern Conference women's basketball season began with practices in October 2016, followed by the start of the 2016–17 NCAA Division I women's basketball season in November. Conference play started in early January 2017 and concluded in March with the 2017 SEC women's basketball tournament at the Bon Secours Wellness Arena in Greenville, South Carolina.[1] The South Carolina Gamecocks were both regular season and tournament champions, with the Mississippi State Bulldogs as runner-up. Both teams received bids to the 2017 NCAA Division I women's basketball tournament and advanced to face each other in the championship, where South Carolina claimed their first-ever national title.

Pre-season

	Media[2]	Coaches[3]
1.	South Carolina
2.	Mississippi State
3.	Tennessee
4.	Kentucky	Florida
5.	Florida	Kentucky
6.	Texas A&M	Auburn
7.	Auburn	Missouri
8.	Missouri	Texas A&M
9.	Vanderbilt
10.	Georgia	Arkansas
11.	Arkansas	LSU
12.	LSU	Georgia
13.	Alabama
14.	Ole Miss

Pre-season All-SEC teams

Media[2]	Coaches[3]
Makayla Epps Kentucky	Epps
Victoria Vivians Mississippi State	Vivians
Alaina Coates South Carolina	Coates
A'ja Wilson South Carolina	Wilson
Diamond DeShields Tennessee	DeShields
	Jessica Jackson Arkansas
	Ronni Williams Florida
	Sophie Cunningham Missouri

• Coaches select eight players
• Players in bold are choices for SEC Player of the Year

Head coaches

Note: Stats shown are before the beginning of the season. Overall and SEC records are from time at current school.

Team	Head coach	Previous job	Seasons at school	Overall record	SEC record	NCAA Tournaments	NCAA Final Fours	NCAA Championships
Alabama	Kristy Curry	Texas Tech	4th	309–200	13–35	9	1	0
Arkansas	Jimmy Dykes	Seattle	3rd	30–32	13–19	1	0	0
Auburn	Terri Williams-Flournoy	Georgetown	5th	214–162	23–38	4	0	0
Florida	Amanda Butler	Charlotte	10th	215–143	66–74	4	0	0
Georgia	Joni Taylor	Georgia (ass't)	2nd	21–9	9–7	1	0	0
Kentucky	Matthew Mitchell	Memphis	10th	249–118	91–49	7	0	0
LSU	Nikki Fargas	UCLA	6th	164–93	40–38	6	0	0
Mississippi State	Vic Schaefer	Sam Houston State	5th	170–155	32–32	2	0	0
Missouri	Robin Pingeton	Illinois State	7th	436–246	27–35	3	0	0
Ole Miss	Matt Insell	Kentucky	4th	41–44	11–37	0	0	0
South Carolina	Dawn Staley	Temple	9th	360–156	83–43	11	1	0
Tennessee	Holly Warlick	Tennessee (ass't)	5th	108–34	50–14	4	0	0
Texas A&M	Gary Blair	Arkansas	14th	717–292	45–19	22	2	1
Vanderbilt	Stephanie White	Indiana	1st	0–0	0–0	0	0	0

Weekly rankings

Main article: 2016–17 NCAA Division I women's basketball rankings

Legend: ██ Increase in ranking. ██ Decrease in ranking. ██ Not ranked the previous week. RV=Received votes. NR=No rank/vote.

		Pre	Wk 2	Wk 3	Wk 4	Wk 5	Wk 6	Wk 7	Wk 8	Wk 9	Wk 10	Wk 11	Wk 12	Wk 13	Wk 14	Wk 15	Wk 16	Wk 17	Wk 18	Final
Alabama	AP	NR	NR	NR	NR	NR	NR	NR	NR	NR	RV	NR	NR	NR	NR	NR
	C	NR	NR	NR	NR	NR	NR	NR	NR	NR	NR	NR	NR	NR	NR	NR
Arkansas	AP	NR	NR	NR	NR	NR	NR	NR	NR	NR	NR	NR	NR	NR	NR	NR
	C	NR	NR	NR	NR	NR	NR	NR	NR	NR	NR	NR	NR	NR	NR	NR
Auburn	AP	RV	RV	RV	23	RV	RV	RV	NR	NR	NR	NR	NR	NR	NR	NR
	C	RV	RV	RV	RV	NR	RV	NR	NR	NR	NR	NR	NR	NR	NR	NR
Florida	AP	20	19	16	19	23	RV	RV	NR	NR	NR	NR	NR	NR	NR	NR
	C	24	23	20	23	25	RV	RV	NR	NR	NR	NR	NR	NR	NR	NR
Georgia	AP	NR	NR	NR	NR	NR	NR	NR	NR	NR	NR	NR	NR	NR	NR	NR
	C	RV	RV	NR	NR	NR	NR	NR	NR	NR	NR	NR	NR	NR	NR	NR
Kentucky	AP	19	15	20	17	15	19	18	17	24	RV	RV	RV	25	RV	NR
	C	19	19	24	20	18	23	24	23	RV	NR	NR	NR	RV	NR	NR
LSU	AP	NR	NR	NR	NR	NR	NR	NR	NR	NR	RV	RV	NR	NR	NR	NR
	C	NR	NR	NR	NR	NR	NR	NR	RV	NR	RV	NR	NR	NR	NR	NR
Mississippi State	AP	10	10	7	6	5	5	5	5	4	4	4	4	5	4	3
	C	11	9	7	6	5	5	5	5	4	4	4	5	4	4	3
Missouri	AP	24	25	RV	RV	NR	NR	NR	NR	NR	NR	NR	NR	NR	RV	NR
	C	RV	RV	RV	RV	NR	NR	NR	NR	NR	NR	NR	NR	NR	NR	NR
Ole Miss	AP	NR	NR	NR	NR	NR	NR	RV	NR	RV	NR	NR	NR	NR	NR	NR
	C	NR	NR	NR	NR	NR	NR	NR	NR	NR	NR	NR	NR	NR	NR	NR
South Carolina	AP	4	4	3	3	6	6	6	6	5	5	5	5	4	6	6
	C	3	3	3	3	6	6	6	6	5	5	5	4	6	6	5
Tennessee	AP	13	13	17	22	RV	NR	RV	RV	RV	RV	NR	RV	RV	24	RV
	C	14	13	16	25	RV	RV	RV	RV	RV	RV	RV	RV	25	25	RV
Texas A&M	AP	RV	RV	RV	25	RV	RV	RV	RV	RV	RV	25	RV	RV	RV	23
	C	23	24	25	19	RV	RV	RV	RV	RV	RV	RV	RV	RV	RV	24
Vanderbilt	AP	NR	NR	NR	NR	RV	RV	RV	RV	NR	NR	NR	NR	NR	NR	NR
	C	NR	NR	NR	NR	NR	NR	NR	NR	NR	NR	NR	NR	NR	NR	NR

Rankings source:[4]

Regular season

Conference matrix

This table summarizes the head-to-head results between teams in conference play.

	Alabama	Arkansas	Auburn	Florida	Georgia	Kentucky	LSU	Mississippi State	Missouri	Ole Miss	South Carolina	Tennessee	Texas A&M	Vanderbilt
vs. Alabama	–	1–0	1–0	0–0	1–0	1–0	1–0	1–0	0–1	0–2	1–0	0–1	1–0	1–0
vs. Arkansas	0–1	–	0–0	1–0	1–0	0–0	2–0	1–0	1–0	1–0	1–0	1–0	1–0	0–1
vs. Auburn	0–1	0–0	–	0–1	0–0	1–0	0–0	1–0	1–0	0–1	1–0	0–1	1–0	0–1
vs. Florida	0–1	0–1	1–0	–	0–1	0–0	1–0	1–0	0–0	1–0	1–0	1–0	2–0	0–1
vs. Georgia	0–0	0–1	0–1	1–0	–	1–0	0–0	0–0	1–0	1–0	2–0	0–1	0–1	0–1
vs. Kentucky	0–1	0–0	0–1	0–0	0–1	–	0–1	0–0	1–1	0–1	1–0	1–0	1–0	0–1
vs. LSU	0–1	0–2	0–0	0–1	0–0	1–0	–	1–0	0–1	0–0	1–0	1–0	1–1	1–0
vs. Mississippi State	0–1	0–1	0–1	0–1	0–0	0–0	0–1	–	0–1	0–0	1–0	0–1	0–2	0–1
vs. Missouri	1–0	0–2	0–1	0–0	0–1	1–1	1–0	1–0	–	0–0	0–1	1–0	0–1	0–1
vs. Ole Miss	2–0	0–1	1–0	0–1	0–1	1–0	0–0	1–0	0–0	–	1–0	0–1	0–0	1–0
vs. South Carolina	0–1	0–1	0–2	0–1	0–2	0–1	0–1	0–1	1–0	0–1	–	1–0	0–0	0–1
vs. Tennessee	0–0	0–0	1–0	0–1	1–0	0–1	0–1	1–0	0–0	1–0	0–1	–	1–0	0–2
vs. Texas A&M	0–1	0–1	0–1	0–2	1–0	0–1	1–1	2–0	1–0	0–0	0–0	0–1	–	0–1
vs. Vanderbilt	0–1	1–0	1–0	1–0	1–0	1–0	0–1	1–0	1–0	0–1	2–0	2–0	1–0	–
Total[5]	5–9	2–12	5–9	4–10	6–8	10–4	7–7	13–1	9–5	5–9	12–2	8–6	9–5	3–11

SEC tournament

Main article: 2017 SEC women's basketball tournament

The conference tournament was held March 1 through March 5, 2017, at the Bon Secours Wellness Arena in Greenville, South Carolina. Teams were seeded by conference record, with ties broken by record between the tied teams followed by record against the regular-season champion, if necessary.

2017 SEC women's basketball tournament seeds and results
Seed	School	Conf.	Over.	Tiebreaker	First round March 1	Second round March 2	Quarterfinals March 3	Semifinals March 4	Championship March 5
1.	‡South Carolina	14–2	27–4		Bye	Bye	vs. #8 Georgia W, 72–48	vs. #4 Kentucky W, 89–77	vs. #2 Mississippi St. W, 59–49
2.	†Mississippi St.	13–3	29–4		Bye	Bye	vs. #7 LSU W, 78–61	vs. #6 TAMU W, 66–50	vs. #1 South Carolina L, 49–59
3.	†Missouri	11–5	21–10	1–1 vs. Kentucky; 1–0 vs. South Carolina	Bye	Bye	vs. #6 TAMU L, 48–62
4.	†Kentucky	11–5	21–10	1–1 vs. Missouri; 0–1 vs. South Carolina	Bye	Bye	vs. #12 Alabama W, 65–55	vs. #1 South Carolina L, 77–89
5.	#Tennessee	10–6	19–11		Bye	vs. #12 Alabama L, 64–72
6.	#Texas A&M	9–7	21–11		Bye	vs. #11 Florida W, 67–48	vs. #3 Missouri W, 62–48	vs. #2 Mississippi St. L, 50–66
7.	#LSU	8–8	20–11		Bye	vs. #10 Ole Miss W, 65–49	vs. #2 Mississippi St. L, 61–78
8.	#Georgia	7–9	16–16	1–0 vs. Auburn	Bye	vs. #9 Auburn W, 56–52	vs. #1 South Carolina L, 48–72
9.	#Auburn	7–9	17–14	0–1 vs. Georgia	Bye	vs. #8 Georgia L, 52–56
10.	#Ole Miss	6–10	17–13		Bye	vs. #7 LSU L, 49–65
11.	Florida	5–11	16–15	1–0 vs. Alabama	vs. #14 Arkansas W, 71–61	vs. #11 TAMU L, 48–67
12.	Alabama	5–11	19–13	0–1 vs. Florida	vs. #13 Vanderbilt W, 77–57	vs. #5 Tennessee W, 74–62	vs. #4 Kentucky L, 55–65
13.	Vanderbilt	4–12	14–16		vs. #12 Alabama L, 57–77
14.	Arkansas	2–14	13–17		vs. #11 Florida L, 61–71
‡ – SEC regular season champions, and tournament No. 1 seed. † – Received a double-Bye in the conference tournament. # – Received a single-Bye in the conference tournament. Overall records include all games played in the SEC tournament.

Postseason

NCAA Division I Women's Basketball tournament

Main articles: 2017 NCAA Division I women's basketball tournament and 2017 NCAA Division I Women's Basketball Championship Game

Seed	Bracket	School	First round	Second round	Sweet 16	Elite 8	Final Four	Championship
1	Stockton	South Carolina	#16 UNC Asheville, W 90–40	#8 Arizona State, W 71–68	#12 Quinnipiac, W 100–58	#3 Florida State, W 71–64	#2L Stanford, W 62–53	#2O Mississippi State, W 67–55
2	Oklahoma	Mississippi State	#15 Troy, W 110–69	#7 DePaul, W 93–71	#3 Washington, W 75–64	#1 Baylor, W 94–85^OT	#1B Connecticut, W 66–64^OT	#1S South Carolina, L 55–67
4	Lexington	Kentucky	#13 Belmont, W 73–70	#5 Ohio State, L 68–82
5	Bridgeport	Texas A&M	#12 Penn, W 63–61	#4 UCLA, L 43–75
5	Oklahoma	Tennessee	#12 Dayton, W 66–57	#4 Louisville, L 64–75
6	Stockton	Missouri	#11 South Florida, W 66–64	#3 Florida State, L 55–77
8	Oklahoma	LSU	#9 California, L 52–55
11	Lexington	Auburn	#6 North Carolina State, L 48–62
# Bids: 8	W-L (%):	TOTAL: 15–7 .682	6–2 .750	2–4 .333	2–0 1.000	2–0 1.000	2–0 1.000	1–1 .500

Women's National Invitation tournament

Main article: 2017 Women's National Invitation Tournament

School	First round	Second round	Third round	Quarterfinals
Alabama	Mercer, W 81–57	Little Rock, W 55–53	Tulane, W 72–64	Georgia Tech, L 66–76
Ole Miss	Grambling State, L 75–78
W-L (%)	1–1 .500	1–0 1.000	1–0 1.000	0–1 .000

WNBA draft

The 2017 WNBA draft was held on April 13 in New York City. Eight women from the SEC were selected. This is the most draft picks for the SEC since 2008 (10), and the seventh time at least eight players from the league have been drafted. It is the sixth time that the SEC has had at least four first round picks.[6]

SEC draftees

Pick	Player	WNBA Team	School
2	Alaina Coates	Chicago Sky[a]	South Carolina
3	Evelyn Akhator	Dallas Wings	Kentucky
4	Allisha Gray	Dallas Wings[b]	South Carolina
10	Kaela Davis	Dallas Wings[c]	South Carolina
19	Jordan Reynolds	Atlanta Dream	Tennessee
22	Ronni Williams	Indiana Fever[d]	Florida
25	Schaquilla Nunn	San Antonio Stars	Tennessee
33	Makayla Epps	Chicago Sky	Kentucky

Footnotes

1. The Mystics traded this pick to Chicago.[7]
2. The Wings received this pick and the 23rd pick from the Los Angeles Sparks in exchange for another player and the 11th pick.[8]
3. The Wings received this pick from the New York Liberty in an exchange.[9]
4. The Dream traded this pick to Indiana.[10]

References

1. "Championship –Women's Basketball". secsports.go.com. October 10, 2016. Retrieved December 26, 2016.
2. "Media tabs Gamecocks to win SEC" (Press release). Southeastern Conference. October 18, 2016. Retrieved December 27, 2016.
3. "Coaches tab Gamecocks as SEC women's basketball champs" (Press release). Southeastern Conference. November 4, 2016. Retrieved December 27, 2016.
4. NCAA Women's Basketball Division 1 Rankings
5. Standings
6. "Eight SEC players taken in 2017 WNBA draft". secsports.com. April 13, 2017. Retrieved April 24, 2017.
7. "Former WNBA MVP Elena Delle Donne Dealt to Mystics in Blockbuster Trade". wnba.com. WNBA. Retrieved February 2, 2017.
8. "LA Sparks Acquire Odyssey Sims in Trade with the Dallas Wings". sparks.wnba.com. WNBA. Retrieved February 17, 2017.
9. "New York Liberty Acquires Amanda Zahui B. From Dallas Wings". wnba.com. WNBA. Retrieved May 11, 2016.
10. "Indiana Trades Layshia Clarendon To Atlanta For 2017 2nd-Round Pick". wnba.com. WNBA. Retrieved May 10, 2016.