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.

2016–17 American Eagles men's basketball
ConferencePatriot League
Record8–22 (5–13 Patriot)
Head coach
Assistant coaches
  • Scott Greenman
  • Matt Wolff
  • Eddie Jackson
Home arenaBender Arena
Seasons
2016–17 Patriot League men's basketball standings
Conf Overall
Team W   L   PCT W   L   PCT
Bucknell 15 3   .833 26 9   .743
Lehigh 12 6   .667 20 12   .625
Boston University 12 6   .667 18 14   .563
Navy 10 8   .556 16 16   .500
Holy Cross 9 9   .500 15 17   .469
Loyola (MD) 8 10   .444 16 17   .485
Colgate 8 10   .444 10 22   .313
Army 6 12   .333 13 19   .406
Lafayette 5 13   .278 9 21   .300
American 5 13   .278 8 22   .267
2017 Patriot League tournament winner

Previous season

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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

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Departures

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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

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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

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US college sports recruiting information for high school athletes
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 
Recruiting star ratings: ScoutN/A   RivalsN/A   247SportsN/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 
Recruiting star ratings: ScoutN/A   RivalsN/A   247SportsN/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.

Roster

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2016–17 American Eagles men's basketball team
Players Coaches
Pos. # Name Height Weight Year Previous school Hometown
G 0 Sa'eed Nelson 6 ft 1 in (1.85 m) 175 lb (79 kg) RS Fr St. Augustine Prep Pleasantville, NJ
G/F 2 Delante Jones 6 ft 5 in (1.96 m) 195 lb (88 kg) So Virginia Episcopal Lynchburg, VA
G 3 James Washington 6 ft 1 in (1.85 m) 160 lb (73 kg) So Price Norwalk, CA
G 4 Alex Paquin 6 ft 0 in (1.83 m) 198 lb (90 kg) Jr Champlain College Saint-Lambert Montreal, QE
G 5 Laurynas Motuzis 6 ft 6 in (1.98 m) 200 lb (91 kg) RS So Hinsdale South
Saint Xavier
Darien, IL
F 12 Yilret Yiljep 6 ft 7 in (2.01 m) 235 lb (107 kg) RS Jr Westtown Kaduna, Nigeria
F 13 Leon Tolksdorf 6 ft 8 in (2.03 m) 225 lb (102 kg) RS Sr Leibniz-Berschule Berlin Secondary
Connecticut
Berlin, Germany
G 14 Justin Perez (W) 6 ft 1 in (1.85 m) 155 lb (70 kg) Fr Gulliver Prep Miami, FL
F 15 Lonnie Rivera 6 ft 6 in (1.98 m) 195 lb (88 kg) So Don Bosco Prep Spring Valley, NY
G/F 20 Charlie Jones (W) 6 ft 4 in (1.93 m) 185 lb (84 kg) Sr Mount St. Joseph Manchester, MD
G 21 Jalen Rhea 6 ft 2 in (1.88 m) 205 lb (93 kg) Sr New Albany New Albany, OH
F 22 Matt Cimino (I)   6 ft 10 in (2.08 m) 212 lb (96 kg) Jr Worcester Academy
George Washington
Falmouth, ME
F/C 23 Mark Gasperini 6 ft 10 in (2.08 m) 250 lb (113 kg) Fr Brimmer and May Moscow, Russia
G 25 Kevin Brown 5 ft 8 in (1.73 m) 160 lb (73 kg) So Montclair Kimberley Academy West Orange, NJ
C 35 Andrija Matić 6 ft 10 in (2.08 m) 220 lb (100 kg) So German School of Belgrade Belgrade, Serbia
Head coach
Assistant coach(es)

Legend
  • (C) Team captain
  • (S) Suspended
  • (I) Ineligible
  • (W) Walk-on

Roster

Schedule and results

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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[1][2].

See also

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2016–17 American Eagles women's basketball team

References

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  1. ^ "2016-17 Schedule - American University". Archived from the original on September 19, 2016. Retrieved September 6, 2016.
  2. ^ "2021-22 American University Eagles Schedule".