2016–17 Bucknell Bison men's basketball team

The 2016–17 Bucknell Bison men's basketball team represented Bucknell University during the 2016–17 NCAA Division I men's basketball season. The Bison, led by second-year head coach Nathan Davis, played their home games at Sojka Pavilion in Lewisburg, Pennsylvania as members of the Patriot League. They finished the regular season 23–8, 15–3 in Patriot League play to win the regular season championship, their third straight title and sixth in seven years.[1] As the No. 1 seed in the Patriot League tournament, they defeated Army, Navy, and Lehigh to win the tournament championship. As a result, the Bison received the conference's automatic bid to the NCAA tournament as the No. 13 seed in the West region. There they lost in the first round to West Virginia.

2016–17 Bucknell Bison men's basketball
Patriot League tournament champions
Patriot League regular season champions
NCAA tournament, First Round
ConferencePatriot League
Record26–9 (15–3 Patriot)
Head coach
Assistant coaches
  • Paul Harrison
  • John Griffin
  • Joe Meehan
Home arenaSojka Pavilion
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
The Bison swept the Patriot League individual awards, with Nana Foulland winning Player of the Year and Defensive Player of the Year and Nathan Davis winning Coach of the Year.

Previous season

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The Bison finished the 2015–16 season 17–14, 14–4 in Patriot League play to win the regular season championship for the second consecutive year. They lost in the quarterfinals of the Patriot League tournament to Holy Cross. As a regular season champion who failed to win their league tournament, they received an automatic bid to the National Invitation Tournament where they lost in the first round to Monmouth.

Offseason

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Departures

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Name Number Pos. Height Weight Year Hometown Notes
Chris Hass 14 G 6'5" 184 Senior Pellston, MI Graduated
Matt Banas 25 F 6'9" 205 Senior Hershey, PA Graduated
Ryan Frazier 32 G 6'0" 190 Senior Silver Springs, MD Graduated
Dom Hoffman 50 F 6'7" 222 Senior Hawthorne, NJ Graduated

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
Bruce Moore
#77 PF
Randallstown, MD McDonough High School 6 ft 7 in (2.01 m) N/A Sep 15, 2015 
Recruiting star ratings: ScoutN/A   RivalsN/A   247SportsN/A    ESPN grade: 66
Ben Robertson
SF
High Point, NC High Point Christian Academy 6 ft 5 in (1.96 m) 190 lb (86 kg) Sep 14, 2015 
Recruiting star ratings: ScoutN/A   RivalsN/A   247SportsN/A    ESPN grade: NR
Avi Toomer
SG
Atlanta, GA Grady High School 6 ft 2 in (1.88 m) 185 lb (84 kg) Oct 8, 2015 
Recruiting star ratings: ScoutN/A   RivalsN/A   247SportsN/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 5, 2016.

Roster

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2016–17 Bucknell Bison men's basketball team
Players Coaches
Pos. # Name Height Weight Year Previous school Hometown
F 0 D.J. MacLeay 6 ft 7 in (2.01 m) 235 lb (107 kg) Sr Ronald Reagan High School San Antonio, Texas
G 1 Kimbal Mackenzie 6 ft 1 in (1.85 m) 190 lb (86 kg) So The John Carroll School Oakville, Ontario, Canada
G 2 Stephen Brown 5 ft 11 in (1.8 m) 165 lb (75 kg) Jr Christ Chapel Academy Manassas, Virginia
F/C 4 Nate Sestina 6 ft 8 in (2.03 m) 234 lb (106 kg) So Cameron County High School Emporium, Pennsylvania
G 5 John Azzinaro 5 ft 11 in (1.8 m) 180 lb (82 kg) Sr William J. Brennan High School San Antonio, Texas
G 11 Avi Toomer 6 ft 3 in (1.91 m) 187 lb (85 kg) Fr Henry W. Grady High School Atlanta, Georgia
F 13 Bruce Moore 6 ft 8 in (2.03 m) 210 lb (95 kg) Fr McDonogh School Owings Mills, Maryland
G 14 Ben Robertson 6 ft 5 in (1.96 m) 193 lb (88 kg) Fr High Point Christian Academy High Point, North Carolina
G 15 Nate Jones 6 ft 4 in (1.93 m) 205 lb (93 kg) So Radford High School Radford, Virginia
C 20 Nana Foulland 6 ft 9 in (2.06 m) 230 lb (104 kg) Jr Berks Catholic High School Reading, Pennsylvania
G 22 Matt O'Reilley 6 ft 3 in (1.91 m) 200 lb (91 kg) So Prolific Prep Academy Moraga, California
F 23 Zach Thomas 6 ft 7 in (2.01 m) 228 lb (103 kg) Jr Oakdale High School Ijamsville, Maryland
C 44 Ben Oberfeld 6 ft 9 in (2.06 m) 247 lb (112 kg) Sr Eastview High School Eagan, Minnesota
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
Manhattan W 76–64  1–0
Sojka Pavilion (2,763)
Lewisburg, PA
11/13/2016*
2:00 pm, ACCN Extra
at Wake Forest L 74–94  1–1
LJVM Coliseum (6,541)
Winston-Salem, NC
11/16/2016*
7:00 pm
Robert Morris W 75–62  2–1
Sojka Pavilion (2,205)
Lewisburg, PA
11/19/2016*
1:00 pm, FSN
at Butler
Las Vegas Classic
L 60–86  2–2
Hinkle Fieldhouse (7,236)
Indianapolis, IN
11/21/2016*
9:00 pm, SECN
at Vanderbilt
Las Vegas Classic
W 75–72  3–2
Memorial Gymnasium (8,243)
Nashville, TN
11/24/2016*
2:30 pm
vs. Norfolk State
Las Vegas Classic semifinals
W 84–58  4–2
Orleans Arena 
Paradise, NV
11/25/2016*
5:00 pm
vs. Northern Colorado
Las Vegas Classic
W 75–63  5–2
Orleans Arena (520)
Paradise, NV
11/30/2016*
7:00 pm
Richmond W 73–68  6–2
Sojka Pavilion (2,494)
Lewisburg, PA
12/03/2016*
2:00 pm
at La Salle L 73–83  6–3
Tom Gola Arena (1,732)
Philadelphia, PA
12/06/2016*
7:00 pm, SNY/ESPN3
at Fairfield W 75–64  7–3
Webster Bank Arena (1,403)
Bridgeport, CT
12/17/2016*
12:00 pm, ESPN3
vs. Siena L 68–71  7–4
Glens Falls Civic Center (3,490)
Glens Falls, NY
12/19/2016*
7:00 pm
Mount St. Mary's W 81–65  8–4
Sojka Pavilion (1,952)
Lewisburg, PA
12/22/2016*
7:00 pm
Princeton L 70–72  8–5
Sojka Pavilion (3,216)
Lewisburg, PA
Patriot League regular season
12/30/2016
7:00 pm
at Navy W 59–55  9–5
(1–0)
Alumni Hall (2,301)
Annapolis, MD
01/02/2017
7:00 pm
Army W 84–76  10–5
(2–0)
Sojka Pavilion (1,737)
Lewisburg, PA
01/05/2017
7:30 pm
at American W 69–60  11–5
(3–0)
Bender Arena (512)
Washington, D.C.
01/08/2017
1:00 pm
at Holy Cross W 68–49  12–5
(4–0)
Hart Center (1,503)
Worcester, MA
01/11/2017
7:00 pm
Lehigh L 71–82  12–6
(4–1)
Sojka Pavilion (2,254)
Lewisburg, PA
01/14/2017
2:00 pm
at Colgate W 83–69  13–6
(5–1)
Cotterell Court (840)
Hamilton, NY
01/18/2017
7:00 pm
at Loyola (MD) W 76–63  14–6
(6–1)
Reitz Arena (2,268)
Baltimore, MD
01/21/2017
2:00 pm, ASN
Boston University W 70–59  15–6
(7–1)
Sojka Pavilion (3,265)
Lewisburg, PA
01/25/2017
7:00 pm
at Lafayette W 78–55  16–6
(8–1)
Kirby Sports Center (1,549)
Easton, PA
01/28/2017
3:00 pm
at Army W 96–75  17–6
(9–1)
Christl Arena (1,808)
West Point, NY
02/01/2017
7:00 pm
American W 80–60  18–6
(10–1)
Sojka Pavilion (1,939)
Lewisburg, PA
02/06/2017
7:00 pm, CBSSN
Holy Cross W 82–68  19–6
(11–1)
Sojka Pavilion (2,615)
Lewisburg, PA
02/08/2017
7:00 pm
at Lehigh L 71–79  19–7
(11–2)
Stabler Arena (1,241)
Bethlehem, PA
02/13/2017
7:00 pm, CBSSN
Colgate W 75–58  20–7
(12–2)
Sojka Pavilion (2,008)
Lewisburg, PA
02/15/2017
7:30 pm
Loyola (MD) L 77–78  20–8
(12–3)
Sojka Pavilion (1,071)
Lewisburg, PA
02/18/2017
12:00 pm, CBSSN
at Boston University W 86–66  21–8
(13–3)
Case Gym (940)
Boston, MA
02/22/2017
7:00 pm
Lafayette W 94–64  22–8
(14–3)
Sojka Pavilion (1,593)
Lewisburg, PA
02/25/2017
12:00 pm, CBSSN
Navy W 82–60  23–8
(15–3)
Sojka Pavilion (3,551)
Lewisburg, PA
Patriot League tournament
03/02/2017
7:00 pm
(1) (8) Army
Quarterfinals
W 78–62  24–8
Sojka Pavilion (2,151)
Lewisburg, PA
03/05/2017
2:00 pm, CBSSN
(1) (4) Navy
Semifinals
W 70–65  25–8
Sojka Pavilion (2,731)
Lewisburg, PA
03/08/2017
7:30 pm, CBSSN
(1) (3) Lehigh
Championship
W 81–65  26–8
Sojka Pavilion (4,254)
Lewisburg, PA
NCAA tournament
03/16/2017*
2:45 pm, CBS
(13 W) vs. (4 W) No. 13 West Virginia
First Round
L 80–86  26–9
KeyBank Center (17,806)
Buffalo, NY
*Non-conference game. #Rankings from AP Poll. (#) Tournament seedings in parentheses.
W=West Region.
All times are in Eastern Time.
Source[2]

See also

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References

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  1. ^ "Patriot League Men's Basketball Notebook (2.22.17)". Patriot League. Retrieved February 23, 2017.
  2. ^ "2016-17 Bucknell Men's Basketball Schedule". Bucknell Bison.