Shaq on the City of Boston...

Celebrations Highlight Big Weekend

It was an eventful and memorable weekend for MIT and MIT Basketball, highlighted by the MIT Basketball Excellence Banquet, Campus Preview Weekend, DAPER's 150th Celebration Reception, and the MIT 150th Convocation.

Campus Preview Weekend began on Thursday, where MIT's Class of 2015 joined each other on campus for the first time. The current and incoming players got a chance to know each other more both on and off the court, and by the end of the weekend, it seemed clear the team is excited about the upcoming season. "It was a great weekend, and we were really impressed with the incoming guys," mentioned Dan Mccue '13, who was recently voted co-captain of the 2011-2012 squad (along with Will Tashman, Mitchell Kates, and Noel Hollingsworth). "With the addition of this powerhouse recruiting class, along with a lot of hard work over the Spring and Summer, we'll be ready to go on October 15th."

Saturday evening was host to the MIT Basketball Excellence Banquet, where players, coaches, staff, alumni, family, and friends joined to commemorate this year's season and say farewell to lone senior Eric Zuk '11. Zuk, after speaking on his time at MIT, was awarded both the Most Improved Player award, as well as the Jack Barry award for the student-athlete who demonstrated the most heart and leadership on the team. 6'8" big-man Will Dickson '14 took home Rookie of the Year honors, while Will Tashman '13 was voted MVP.

The celebrations continued the next morning at DAPER's 150th Celebration at the Boston Convention and Exhibition Center, where the history of all varsity sports were highlighted. This event preceded MIT's historic 150th Convocation.

(Hundreds gathered for DAPER's 150th Celebration

event Sunday morning)

(Assistant Coach Bill Johnson '10, and captains Noel Hollingsworth '13,

Mitchell Kates '13, Will Tashman '13, and Dan Mccue '13 having a good

time with Coach Anderson at DAPER's 150th Celebration)

(The Men's Basketball Conference Championship trophy

along with some other MIT athletics hardware earned this year)

(Thousands poured in later in the day for the MIT 150th Convocation)

(MIT President Dr. Susan Hockfield, an avid MIT Basketball fan,

speaking at the Convocation)

MIT Tops in World Rankings

QS World University Rankings recently released their world university rankings in the engineering and technology division for 2011, where MIT took top spot in the world in all categories within the division:

1st in World: Computer Science and Information Technologies

1st in World: Civil and Structural Engineering

1st in World: Chemical Engineering

1st in World: Electrical Engineering

1st in World: Mechanical, Aeronautical, and Manufacturing

The publication had MIT ranked overall as the 5th best university in the world in 2010.

More on the QS World Rankings here.

MIT Basketball Excellence Banquet this Saturday

This Saturday, the MIT Men's Basketball team will continue celebrating their 110th anniversary season at the end-of-year MIT Basketball Excellence Banquet. This event honors the 2010-2011 Men's Basketball team that finished 20-9, won their second Conference Tournament Championship, and earned an NCAA Tournament bid for the third straight year. Dinner will be served along with an awards presentation, announcement of the captains for the 2011-2012 season, and Senior Captain Eric Zuk as a speaker. The banquet begins at 6:30pm at the MIT Faculty Club.

Register for the Banquet here.

Celebrations continue the following day at the DAPER and MIT 150th Celebration at the Boston Convention and Exhibition Center at 11am.

Event: MIT Basketball Excellence Banquet
Date: Saturday, April 9, 2011
Place: MIT Faculty Club
Time: 6:30pm

Attendees: Players, Alumni, Friends of the Program, Fans, and Parents