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. 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 Coaches 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 Coaches Makayla Epps Kentucky Epps Victoria Vivians Mississippi State Vivians Alaina Coates South Carolina Coates A'ja Wilson South CarolinaWilson Diamond DeShields Tennessee DeShieldsJessica Jackson ArkansasRonni Williams FloridaSophie 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 ChampionshipsAlabama Kristy Curry Texas Tech 4th 309–200 13–35 9 1 0Arkansas Jimmy Dykes Seattle 3rd 30–32 13–19 1 0 0Auburn Terri Williams-Flournoy Georgetown 5th 214–162 23–38 4 0 0Florida Amanda Butler Charlotte 10th 215–143 66–74 4 0 0Georgia Joni Taylor Georgia (ass't) 2nd 21–9 9–7 1 0 0Kentucky Matthew Mitchell Memphis 10th 249–118 91–49 7 0 0LSU Nikki Fargas UCLA 6th 164–93 40–38 6 0 0Mississippi State Vic Schaefer Sam Houston State 5th 170–155 32–32 2 0 0Missouri Robin Pingeton Illinois State 7th 436–246 27–35 3 0 0Ole Miss Matt Insell Kentucky 4th 41–44 11–37 0 0 0South Carolina Dawn Staley Temple 9th 360–156 83–43 11 1 0Tennessee Holly Warlick Tennessee (ass't) 5th 108–34 50–14 4 0 0Texas A&M Gary Blair Arkansas 14th 717–292 45–19 22 2 1Vanderbilt Stephanie White Indiana 1st 0–0 0–0 0 0 0

Weekly rankings

+ Legend: ██ Increase in ranking. ██ Decrease in ranking. ██ Not ranked the previous week. RV=Received votes. NR=No rank/vote.+  Pre Wk2 Wk3 Wk4 Wk5 Wk6 Wk7 Wk8 Wk9 Wk10 Wk11 Wk12 Wk13 Wk14 Wk15 Wk16 Wk17 Wk18 FinalAlabama 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:NCAA Women's Basketball Division 1 Rankings

Regular season

Conference matrix This table summarizes the head-to-head results between teams in conference play.   AlabamaArkansasAuburnFloridaGeorgiaKentuckyLSUMississippi StateMissouriOle MissSouth CarolinaTennesseeTexas A&MVanderbiltvs. Alabama – 1–01–00–01–01–01–01–00–10–21–00–11–01–0vs. Arkansas0–1 – 0–01–01–00–02–01–01–01–01–01–01–00–1vs. Auburn0–10–0 – 0–10–01–00–01–01–00–11–00–11–00–1vs. Florida0–10–11–0 – 0–10–01–01–00–01–01–01–02–00–1vs. Georgia0–00–10–11–0 – 1–00–00–01–01–02–00–10–10–1vs. Kentucky0–10–00–10–00–1 – 0–10–01–10–11–01–01–00–1vs. LSU0–10–20–00–10–01–0 – 1–00–10–01–01–01–11–0vs. Mississippi State0–10–10–10–10–00–00–1 – 0–10–01–00–10–20–1vs. Missouri1–00–20–10–00–11–11–01–0 – 0–00–11–00–10–1vs. Ole Miss2–00–11–00–10–11–00–01–00–0 – 1–00–10–01–0vs. South Carolina0–10–10–20–10–20–10–10–11–00–1 – 1–00–00–1vs. Tennessee0–00–01–00–11–00–10–11–00–01–00–1 – 1–00–2vs. Texas A&M0–10–10–10–21–00–11–12–01–00–00–00–1 – 0–1vs. Vanderbilt0–11–01–01–01–01–00–11–01–00–12–02–01–0 –TotalStandings 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

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 roundMarch 1 Second roundMarch 2 QuarterfinalsMarch 3 SemifinalsMarch 4 ChampionshipMarch 51. ‡South Carolina14–227–4 Bye Bye vs. #8 GeorgiaW, 72–48 vs. #4 KentuckyW, 89–77 vs. #2 Mississippi St.W, 59–492. †Mississippi St.13–329–4 Bye Bye vs. #7 LSUW, 78–61 vs. #6 TAMUW, 66–50 vs. #1 South CarolinaL, 49–593. †Missouri11–521–101–1 vs. Kentucky; 1–0 vs. South Carolina Bye Bye vs. #6 TAMUL, 48–62 4. †Kentucky11–521–101–1 vs. Missouri; 0–1 vs. South Carolina Bye Bye vs. #12 AlabamaW, 65–55 vs. #1 South CarolinaL, 77–89 5. #Tennessee10–619–11 Bye vs. #12 AlabamaL, 64–72 6. #Texas A&M9–721–11 Bye vs. #11 FloridaW, 67–48 vs. #3 MissouriW, 62–48 vs. #2 Mississippi St.L, 50–66 7. #LSU8–820–11 Bye vs. #10 Ole MissW, 65–49 vs. #2 Mississippi St.L, 61–78 8. #Georgia7–916–161–0 vs. Auburn Bye vs. #9 AuburnW, 56–52 vs. #1 South CarolinaL, 48–72 9. #Auburn7–917–140–1 vs. Georgia Bye vs. #8 GeorgiaL, 52–56 10. #Ole Miss6–1017–13 Bye vs. #7 LSUL, 49–65 11. Florida5–1116–151–0 vs. Alabama vs. #14 ArkansasW, 71–61 vs. #11 TAMUL, 48–67 12.Alabama5–1119–130–1 vs. Florida vs. #13 VanderbiltW, 77–57 vs. #5 TennesseeW, 74–62 vs. #4 KentuckyL, 55–65 13. Vanderbilt4–1214–16 vs. #12 AlabamaL, 57–77 14. Arkansas2–1413–17 vs. #11 FloridaL, 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

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 94–85OT #1B Connecticut, W 66–64OT #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: 8W-L (%):TOTAL: 15–7 6–2 2–4 2–0 2–0 2–0 1–1

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 75–78W-L (%)1–1 1–0 1–0 0–1

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.

SEC draftees PickPlayerWNBA TeamSchool2 Alaina Coates Chicago Sky South Carolina3 Evelyn Akhator Dallas Wings Kentucky4 Allisha Gray Dallas Wings South Carolina10 Kaela Davis Dallas Wings South Carolina19 Jordan Reynolds Atlanta Dream Tennessee22 Ronni Williams Indiana Fever Florida 25 Schaquilla Nunn San Antonio Stars Tennessee 33 Makayla Epps Chicago Sky Kentucky

Footnotes

References