The 2016–17 Michigan State Spartans women's basketball team represented Michigan State University during the 2016–17 NCAA Division I women's basketball season. The Spartans, led by tenth-year head coach Suzy Merchant, played their home games at the Breslin Center in East Lansing, Michigan and were members of the Big Ten Conference. They finished the season 21–12, 9–7 in Big Ten play to finish in a tie for sixth place. In the Big Ten tournament, they beat Wisconsin and Michigan before losing in the semifinals to Maryland. They received an at-large bid to the NCAA tournament as a No. 8 seed where the lost in the First Round to Arizona State. Head Coach Suzy Merchant took a medical leave of absence of January 17, 2017 after fainting on the sidelines during a game against Illinois. She also missed the following game against Purdue days after fainting.
Previous season The Spartans finished the 2015–16 season 25–9, 13–5 in Big Ten play to finish in third place. They defeated Purdue and Ohio State in the Big Ten tournament before losing in the championship game to Maryland. They received an at-large bid to the NCAA tournament as a No. 4 seed. They defeated Belmont in the First Round before losing to Mississippi State in the Second Round.
Roster
Schedule and results
!colspan=9 style=| Exhibition
!colspan=9 style=| Non-conference regular season
!colspan=9 style=| Big Ten regular season
!colspan=9 style=|Big Ten tournament
!colspan=9 style=|NCAA tournament
Rankings
+ Regular season pollsPoll Pre-Season Week2 Week3 Week4 Week5 Week6 Week7 Week8 Week9 Week10 Week11 Week12 Week13 Week14 Week15 Week16 Week17 Week18 Week19 Final AP RV RV 24 RV RV RV NR NR NR NR NR NR NR NR NR NR NR NR NR N/A Coaches 22 21 19 22 RV RV RV RV RV RV RV NR NR NR NR NR NR NR NR NR + Legend Increase in ranking Decrease in ranking Not ranked previous week (RV) Received Votes
See also 2016–17 Michigan State Spartans men's basketball team
References