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

DAPER 150th Celebration Set for April 10th

MIT Department of Athletics, Physical Education and Recreation (DAPER) will be holding a celebratory reception on Sunday, April 10, 2011, from 11am-1pm at the Boston Convention and Exhibition Center. This event will precede the MIT 150th Convocation, beginning at 2pm, that recalls the mid-century convocation and celebrate the scholarly accomplishments of MIT's faculty and students.
The Department invites all members of the MIT community to help commemorate MIT's legacy and recognize 16 varsity teams that have significant anniversary dates ranging from 10 to 110 years, including MIT Basketball's 110th anniversary.
Attendees may register for the DAPER 150th Reception at the following website: http://tinyurl.com/DAPER-150-Event
Those planning to attend both the DAPER reception and the main 150th convocation following DAPER's event will also need to register for a ticket at: http://web.mit.edu/mit150/next-century/

MIT Basketball Helps Kids "Experience MIT"

(MIT Head Coach Larry Anderson brings the kids in for a team huddle)

The Men's Basketball team took part in the 2nd Annual "Experience MIT" program last week, where over 100 sixth-graders from Dorchester, MA came to campus to tour the labs and spend time with MIT varsity athletes. Organized by the Student-Athlete Advisory Committee (SAAC), players from across all sports teamed up to put on a great event for their younger neighbors across town.

"We are so glad we were able to join forces with SAAC and participate in 'Experience MIT'," said Coach Anderson after a day of basketball drills, competitions, and games. "We have a great group of guys in that they are always looking to help others, and it really showed today by the smiles on all of these kids faces."

(Freshman Nick Davis teaches a 6th grader the basics of dribbling)

All in an effort to live out MIT Basketball's mission of "getting it done in the classroom, on the court, and in the community," the team continues to give back to the MIT community and abroad. Earlier in the year the squad helped organize a charity basketball tournament with proceeds supporting the Make-a-Wish Foundation, while during the season both the men's and women's teams raised over $1,000 for breast cancer awareness.

MIT Tops Graduate School Rankings

The 2012 U.S. News and World Report (USNWR) graduate school rankings were recently released, and MIT again found itself tops in the nation in a number of categories, including 1st in overall engineering and 3rd for business:

1st - Engineering (overall)

1st - Chemical Engineering

1st - Aeronautical and Astronautical Engineering

1st - Computer Engineering

1st - Electrical Engineering

1st - Materials Engineering

1st - Mechanical Engineering

1st - Economics

1st - Chemistry

1st - Computer Science

1st - Earth Sciences

1st - Mathematics

1st - Physics

2nd - Biological Sciences (behind Stanford)

3rd - Business (behind Harvard and Stanford)

9th - Political Science (tied with Duke)

11th - Psychology (tied with UPenn)

All USNWR graduate school rankings can be found here.

Bartolotta's Groundbreaking Season Ends

(After IR-Reykjavik's final regular season game in Reykjavik, Iceland. From left to right: former MIT hooper Brandon Suarez '09, former player and current assistant coach Bill Johnson '10, former player Paul Burkard '10, former player and current pro Jimmy Bartolotta '09, former MIT Lacrosse player Brian Coffey '09, and former MIT football player and Academic All-American Tommy Franklin '09)

Former MIT standout Jimmy Bartolotta and his team, IR-Reykjavik, fell to Keflavik in overtime, 95-90, last night in the final game of the Icelandic Express League quarterfinal series. Bartolotta, playing through an injury he suffered in the last regular game of the season, scored 14 points on 4-of-7 shooting for IR.

Bartolotta, who holds a Management Science degree, a Physics degree, and an Economics minor from MIT, ends his season in Iceland as one of the top players in the league, averaging 21.6 points, 3.6 assists, 3.4 rebounds, and 1.4 steals per game while shooting 54.4% from the field, a staggering 47.6% from three, and 87.9% from the free-throw line. Prior to Bartolotta's joining of the team, IR was sitting at the bottom of the standings with a 3-7 record. After coming off the bench in his first game, Bartolotta quickly established the team chemistry needed for IR to make the playoffs, leading IR to an 8-5 record during his time.

Tech Hoops caught up with Jimmy after his game: "My time [in Iceland] was an absolutely amazing experience. IR is a fantastic organization, from the coaching staff and management to the players who I became so close with. I had some great memories here, and believe IR will be a powerhouse in the Express League for years to come."

Jimmy then went on to talk about how is experience at MIT prepared him for professional basketball: "Much of my success so far is undoubtedly credited to the lessons learned while at MIT and with Coach Anderson. Coach A taught me to push myself to my mental and physical limit, and then push a little harder. The discipline and work ethic I developed is truly paying off now."

Bartolotta travels back to his hometown of Littleton, Colorado before he and his agent weigh the offers he has lined up for next season.

Bartolotta Leads in Playoff Run

Former MIT star and National Player of the Year Jimmy Bartolotta lead his team, IR-Reykjavik, to victory in the Icelandic Express League quarterfinals last night. Despite a grueling foot injury he suffered two games ago, Bartolotta dropped 18 points along with 7 assists in the 106-89 win over 3rd place Keflavik.

Bartolotta is currently 4th in scoring in the Express League, averaging 22.2 points per game. IR plays Keflavik again in the best-of-3 series tomorrow, March 23rd. The winner advances to the semi-finals and will face off with KR-Reykjavik, who finished 2nd in the league with a 16-6 record.

Box Score

Tashman Named All-Northeast Region by D3Hoops.com

MIT sophomore forward Will Tashman was named to the All-Northeast Region Fourth-Team by D3Hoops.com.

The full list of honorees can be found at D3Hoops.com.

Bartolotta Named Eurobasket.com Player of the Week

For his tremendous performance last week for IR Reykjavik, former MIT star Jimmy Bartolotta has been named the Eurobasket.com Player of the Week.

You can read more at Eurobasket.com.