Announcement of Next Year's Captains Highlight Annual Team Banquet

On Friday, April 9, nearly 50 people connected with the MIT men's basketball community joined together at the MIT Faculty Club to celebrate the past season. The annual banquet featured speaker Dana Mead, who is the current chairman of the Institute's board of trustees, and concluded with the presentation of team awards and announcement of next year's captains.

Director of Athletics Julie Soriero opened and closed the evening, while Mead Wyman '62, captain Billy Johnson, and assistant coach Indran Ratnathicam '98 also provided remarks. Wyman delivered an insightful speech with an alumni perspective and Ratnathicam, who was also a former player under head coach Larry Anderson, focused his talking points on leadership.

Following dinner and Mead's thoughtful oration, Anderson provided some reflections on the year's success before being joined by coaches Kevin Byrne and Brian Phillips for the distribution of the yearly hardware. As voted by the student-athletes on the basketball team, sophomore standout Noel Holingsworth was named Team MVP. Mitchell Kates was unanimously selected as Rookie of the Year; fellow rookie Will Tashman was cited as Most Improved; and junior Eric Zuk was tabbed with the Jack Barry Leadership Award.

Bob Ferrara '67, who has served as the cornerstone for the program's alumni efforts, provided announcements to the group throughout the evening and played an active role in organizing the event. As the evening neared its conclusion, Anderson left everyone with a sense of excitement about the program's bright future and announced the captains for the 2010-11 season as selected by the team: Eric Zuk and Mitchell Kates.

2010 Player Highlights: Mitchell Kates

It is not often that a true freshman is asked to be the on court leader of a team, but that is exactly what Coach Larry Anderson asked of Mitchell Kates this past season. With the graduation of point guard Bradley Gampel, during which Gampel set all-time MIT marks for assists and steals, and MIT all-time leading scorer and national Player of the Year, Jimmy Bartolotta, there were a lot of unanswered questions for the young Engineers entering the season. However, the team did not miss a beat in the early season and shot up to as high as a #8 national ranking, with Kates at the helm. In addition to the many intangibles he brings to the court, Kates put up exceptional numbers, averaging 13.2 points per game, 4.2 assists per game, and 2.1 steals per game, as well as leading the team in minutes played at 33.0 per game. For his efforts, Kates was named an All-NEWMAC performer (2nd-team), the NEWMAC Rookie of the Year, and the Northeast Region Rookie of the Year (by D3hoops.com).

As in previous weeks, there are both abbreviated and extended highlight clips provided.

Extended Highlights


Abbreviated Highlights

MIT Athletics Program Cracks Top 10 in National Rankings

MIT is known more for its high national rankings in the classroom, but in the most recent release of the the National Association of Collegiate Directors of Athletics (NACDA) Division III Director's Cup rankings, MIT moved up to the 9th position. In the past 3 years, MIT has steadily improved its ranking from 60 to 37 to 24, and all the way into the top 10 this month. The change reflects MIT's continued commitment to fielding competitive athletic programs. MIT's athletic director, Julie Soriero, said "When people think of MIT, they should think about achievement and excellence. That extends to academics, that extends to student activities, and that extends to athletics." Full releases from MIT and NACDA can be found at the links below.

Official MIT Release

Official NACDA Release

Johnson Leads MIT Basketball Vets to Dodgeball Championship

Billy Johnson enjoyed a huge week with his selection and performance in the 2010 NEBCA Senior All-Star Game, but the graduating captain also kept busy by bringing in another championship for the Engineers’ basketball team.

On Saturday, April 10, members of the MIT hoop squad participated in the inaugural MIT Recreation Sports Dodgeball Tournament. Using the familiar moniker of Sky Bearcats, which is the same name the team has used the past several years in the Watertown Summer Basketball League, Johnson, Arni Lehto, Will Tashman, Ben Montgomery, Noel Hollingsworth, and Mitchell Kates outlasted nine other teams in a double-elimination tournament en route to the campus crown.

The victory for Tech’s veterans was made sweeter as they knocked off the men’s basketball class of 2014 in the championship game.

2010 Player Highlights: Billy Johnson

Billy Johnson's decision to come back for his final year of collegiate eligibility turned out to be a good one. The 5th-year senior provided much needed leadership on a roster comprised mainly of freshman and sophomores, which helped guide the team to an Institute record 22 victories. In addition to his role as a team captain, Johnson played well on the court as well, surpassing many career milestones this year, including the 1000 point mark (becoming just the 23rd player to do so in MIT basketball history). He finished his career with 1053 points, good for 20th best all-time at MIT. In all, Johnson was a part of three 20-win seasons for the Engineers (05-06, 08-09, and 09-10), and the teams he has been a part of have won a total of 90 games (in games he has appeared in, the team has won 73 out 108).

Keeping with the same format as last week, there is an extended highlight clip that is 4:00 minutes long, and an abbreviated clip that is 2:00 minutes long.

Extended Clip


Abbreviated Clip

Johnson Helps Lead Home Team to NEBCA Win

Billy Johnson was back in action today, at the 2010 NEBCA Senior All-Star Game, and he did not disappoint. He showed off his full range of skills: knocking down 3's, going to work in the post, dropping dimes, and creating havoc on the defensive end. All these facets of his game are showcased in the highlights below. There is also a clip of his teammate, Jake Grimes of RIC, finishing off a nice dunk. Johnson ended up with 8 points in the home team's 110-103 victory.

Johnson Named to NEBCA Division III Senior All-Star Game

MIT senior forward Billy Johnson has been selected to compete in this Sunday's (April 18) New England Basketball Coaches Association Senior All-Star game. Tip is set for 1:00 PM on the campus of Babson College.

Johnson was a captain on this year's team, and was also a significant contributer in scoring at 8 points per game, which included him passing the 1000 point milestone for his career. Johnson will join fellow players from the NEWMAC, Pat Crean of Springfield (shown above guarding Johnson) and Jack Minister of Clark, as well as players from the MASCAC, the GNAC, the LEC, the CCC, the NAC, the NECC, the NESCAC and the UAA, that comprise this year's teams. The official MIT release cane be found here: Johnson Selected to Play in NEBCA Senior All-Star Game

2010 Player Highlights: Noel Hollingsworth

Noel Hollingsworth's exceptional 2009-10 season has been well documented. In just his first year playing for the Engineers, Hollingsworth led the team in scoring (20.4 ppg), rebounding (9.1 rpg), and blocks (1.4 bpg), en route to being named the NEWMAC Player of the Year, a unanimous All-Northeast 1st-Team Selection (D3hoops.com, ECAC, and NABC), as well as a second-team All-American by the NABC. With such credentials, it is no surprise that Hollingsworth is the featured player for the first installment of the MIT Hoops Blog's 2010 Player Highlights.

New highlights will posted for at least one player each week and, for those players with lengthy highlight reels, there will be both extended and abbreviated highlight clips. Hollingsworth's extended highlight real below is 8 minutes in length, while the abbreviated highlight real is just 2.5 minutes long.

Extended Highlights


Abbreviated Highlights

Turn Back the Clock: ECAC Team of the Year

Before the season even began, there were high expectations for the 1966-67 MIT basketball team. The year before, MIT finished with an 18-8 record, secured an 86-84 victory over rival Harvard, and had one of the region’s top emerging stars in sophomore Dave Jansson, who was named New England honorable mention. Five of the seven men who head coach Jack Barry would rely upon during the 1966-67 campaign were seniors, and the Engineers’ devastating front line might still be the best the program has ever seen.

The Cardinal and Gray opened the year with five quick wins over Trinity, Wesleyan, Brandeis, RPI, and Bowdoin, before dropping a double-overtime heartbreaker to Dartmouth, 70-68. After shrugging off two more losses, the Engineers reeled off 10 wins in a row, topping 100 points against Bates and Coast Guard and thumping the University of New Hampshire, 96-64. A nine-point loss at Northeastern was the only tilt preventing the Engineers from running the table as the squad ended the year with double-digit wins against Amherst and Middlebury, as well as victories at Tufts and WPI. With a 19-4 overall record in tote, MIT was named ECAC College Division Team of the Year, while the unit’s .826 winning percentage remains an Institute record.

Although there was no official national championship for Division III at the time, the Engineers were considered for two post-season NCAA tournaments. For the one at Springfield, they were edged out by such perennial New England cage dynasties as Northeastern, Assumption, St. Michael's, and AIC. For the tourney at Central Connecticut, NCAA officials had to choose between MIT and Rochester, and again went with the more established basketball power.

The co-captains for the 1966-67 team served as two of the best big men in Tech's history. Bob Hardt '67 and Alex Wilson '67 were 1-2 in both scoring and rebounding for MIT, Hardt with 18 points and 10.8 rebounds per game and Wilson with 17.6 points and 10.4 rebounds per tilt. Wilson, who established a new school record for career points during the season, finished with 1,224 markers in his three years and still ranks 13th all-time. His effectiveness was never more evident than in a crucial game with Assumption, where he scored a season-high 30 points. Hardt bounced back after missing 16 games the previous season to illness. In the last two games of the season against Tufts and WPI, the MIT offense was sluggish until Hardt's jump shot pulled both games out of the fire. He also paced the team with 13 double-doubles on the year.

Dave Jansson was the nucleus around whom the following year's squad was built. With a deadly jumper from the corner, he hit for 16.5 points per game while averaging 8.1 rebounds. MIT would have been in serious trouble without the superb defensive job he did on such great scorers as Brown of Lowell Tech and Letzmann of Wayne State. Jansson would go on to have one of the finest individual seasons to ever don the Cardinal and Gray in 1967-68 and he currently ranks seventh on MIT’s all-time scoring list with 1,457 points.

Completing Tech's starting five were the backcourt twins, seniors Bob and Ray Ferrara. Unselfishly giving up scoring opportunities to the powerful front line, they helped make MIT one of the top defensive teams in the country. With Bob on Leo Osgood and Ray on Dave Laudati, they held a high-scoring Northeastern outfit to 69 points in the Beavers' hard fought setback. Ray's 4-for-4 performance from the field helped crush Bowdoin, 84-59, and Bob came up with crucial plays in the closing minutes of the 72-63 win over Tufts, allowing MIT to win 14 of their last 15.

The part of sixth man was played by Roy Talus '67. In his 20-point effort against UNH, Talus entered the game after eight minutes and with MIT trailing by three. He hit two straight jumpers and minutes later stole the ball twice on consecutive possessions, outracing everybody for driving layups. By the end of the half, Tech led by 24. Alec Bash '68 spelled the big men and was the difference in several games. With Wilson out with a back injury against RPI, Bash stepped in, scoring 11 and grabbing 10 rebounds to propel the Engineers to a 70-54 triumph.

The 1966-67 out-fit served as the program’s undisputed best team for nearly 40 years, until head coach Larry Anderson and All-American Mike D’Auria revitalized the Engineers with the Institute’s first 20-win season in 2005.

A Glance at the NEWMAC

The New England Women’s and Men’s Athletic Conference (NEWMAC) is one of the nation’s most prestigious academic conferences and the league has continued to make strides to position itself as one of the best NCAA Division III athletic groupings as well. Although the league is more clearly renowned for its academic muscle (MIT is one of the best undergraduate universities in the world, four schools are rated among the top 100 colleges in the country, and the entire membership is comprised of Tier 1 institutions), the NEWMAC continues to mature in both the classroom and on the court.

It would be remiss to not acknowledge the fact that the NEWMAC has yet to procure an NCAA champion and that the league’s Final Four appearances are scant. However, the conference has shown stability and marked improvement while steadily defying the NCAA odds despite a small contingent. There are seven schools participating in men’s basketball, and those teams have combined for 46 NCAA tournament appearances. The NEWMAC has earned a Pool C bid in five of the last six seasons, giving the league a recent stranglehold on a precious at-large berth. On most occasions, earning a second NCAA tournament bid has come at the expense of the league’s top team, but it also reinforces the competitiveness of the conference and the right amount of talent and luck needed to persevere through the regular-season slate. According to the Massey Ratings, the NEWMAC had the highest parity of any basketball conference in the nation in 2008 and 2009, while in 2007 Coast Guard won the postseason title despite finishing in last place during the regular season with a 2-10 record.

Clark University has been the league’s best postseason performer with 15 invitations to the NCAA Championship Tournament. The Cougars made consecutive trips to the Elite 8 early in the decade while Clark and Williams are the only New England programs to play in the NCAA Division III National Championship game multiple times.

WPI and MIT have been late bloomers in terms of national success, although those programs have served as the NEWMAC elite for the last several years. Before this season, WPI had secured five consecutive bids to the NCAA’s where it won five games and made one appearance in the Sweet 16. MIT has qualified for the last two championships, including an at-large berth in 2010. In addition, MIT has benefitted from unprecedented individual success. Although the Engineers didn’t garner any All-American honors in the first 103 years of the program, MIT has boasted three All-Americans in the last six years including the 2009 National Player of the Year.

Regarded as the “birthplace of basketball,” Springfield College has only recently been a member of the Division III community. The Pride earned 11 bids to the NCAA Division II Championship before making the transition to Division III, where they have made five NCAA tournaments in 13 years. Springfield has won nine tournament games, advancing to the Sweet 16 early in the decade.

Babson College has made five NCAA tournaments since the mid-90s, including an appearance in the Sweet 16 in 2001 as well as a second round game in 2004. The Beavers also won the ECAC Championship in 2002. Wheaton College, which began its program in 1989-90, captured ECAC Championships in back-to-back seasons from 2004-06.

The U.S. Coast Guard Academy has qualified for the NCAA Division III Championship on three occasions, and while its improbable run to the conference crown in 2007 was memorable, the following year the Bears flirted with a Final Four berth before enduring an overtime loss in the Elite 8.

Supporters of the conference understand that a national championship is all the prevents the NEWMAC from consideration as one of the best basketball leagues in Division III, but with 5 of its 7 teams garnering Sweet 16 appearances in the last nine years, just advancing through the challenging conference season is often an achievement in itself. As the league continues to stockpile young talent and the tumultuous road through the league prepares its teams for the rigors of postseason play, the realization of the national championship trophy residing with a NEWMAC school shouldn’t be a matter of if, but when.