MIT Men’s Basketball Gets No. 1 Ranking In Preseason Poll
MINNEAPOLIS, Minn. – After a record breaking season that saw the MIT men's basketball team finish 29-2, a school record for wins, advance to the NCAA Final Four and finish the season No. 3 in the final polls, the Engineers have been selected as the 2012-13 preseason No. 1 team in the nation. In the preseason poll released by D3hoops.com, MIT picked up 12 first place votes and 594 total points. Virginia Wesleyan was second with three first place votes and 585 points, followed by last season's national champions, Wisconsin-Whitewater, with 10 first place votes and 543 points.
Head coach Larry Anderson returns an experienced squad to defend its New England Women's and Men's Athletic Conference championship. The Engineers are slated to return four senior starters for 2012-13 who between them led MIT in every statistical category last season. Senior Mitchell Kates (Colts Neck, N.J) earned both fourth team All-America and first team All-NEWMAC honors and a year ago after averaging 14.2 points and 5.4 assists a game. Senior Noel Hollingsworth (Salt Lake City, Utah), a first team All-NEWMAC selection, led the team in scoring with his 17.2 ppg average while also leading the squad with 54 blocked shots. Senior Will Tashman (Atherton, Calif.), also a first team All-NEWMAC pick, led the squad in rebounding with 9.6 per game while adding 11.5 points a contest. Senior Jamie Karraker (Morgantown, W.Va.) hit a school record 111 three-point shots last season, shooting at a 42.7 percent clip from behind the arc while averaging 12.6 points per game.
Fans can get their first look at the 2012-13 edition of both the MIT men's and women's basketball teams on Friday night at 10:00 p.m. at the Beaver Madness event in the Rockwell Cage. The Engineers will play an exhibition at Harvard on November 9 at 7:00 p.m. before opening the season at Lesley University on November 15 at 8:00 p.m. MIT will play its first home game of the 2012-13 season against Emmanuel College on November 20 at 8:00 p.m.
2012-13 D3hoops.com Preseason Poll
|
School (1st votes) |
Rec |
Pts |
Final |
|
|
1 |
MIT (12) |
29-2 |
594 |
4 |
|
2 |
Virginia Wesleyan (3) |
27-4 |
585 |
5 |
|
3 |
UW-Whitewater (10) |
29-4 |
543 |
1 |
|
4 |
Middlebury |
26-4 |
474 |
9 |
|
5 |
Amherst |
26-3 |
453 |
8 |
|
6 |
North Central (Ill.) |
22-8 |
444 |
16 |
|
7 |
Hope |
27-2 |
417 |
6 |
|
8 |
Illinois Wesleyan |
23-8 |
380 |
3 |
|
9 |
Franklin and Marshall |
28-3 |
368 |
7 |
|
10 |
Cabrini |
31-2 |
307 |
2 |
|
11 |
St. Thomas |
22-7 |
299 |
-- |
|
12 |
Birmingham-Southern |
25-3 |
295 |
21 |
|
13 |
Wooster |
26-5 |
270 |
12 |
|
14 |
Whitworth |
26-4 |
210 |
10 |
|
15 |
UW-Stevens Point |
20-8 |
201 |
-- |
|
16 |
Transylvania |
23-5 |
194 |
-- |
|
17 |
Ramapo |
18-9 |
149 |
-- |
|
18 |
Scranton |
23-8 |
143 |
15 |
|
19 |
St. Mary's (Md.) |
20-8 |
137 |
-- |
|
20 |
William Paterson |
24-4 |
136 |
24 |
|
21 |
Washington U. |
20-7 |
134 |
22 |
|
22 |
Ohio Wesleyan |
20-8 |
124 |
-- |
|
23 |
Wesleyan |
20-6 |
118 |
-- |
|
24 |
Randolph-Macon |
21-7 |
102 |
-- |
|
25 |
Hampden-Sydney |
19-8 |
95 |
-- |
Others receiving votes: Bethany 84; New York University 76; Albertus Magnus 75; St. Norbert 75; Rose-Hulman 69; Carroll 59; Oswego State 58; Eastern Connecticut 54; Whitman 50; Trinity (Texas) 49; Hobart 40; Christopher Newport 39; Augustana 34; Wittenberg 30; Williams 27; Keene State 23; Hartwick 21; Wheaton (Ill.) 20; Capital 16; Rochester 10; Mary Hardin-Baylor 9; Farmingdale State 9; Claremont-Mudd-Scripps 7; WPI 6; Lebanon Valley 4; Rhode Island College 2; Staten Island 2; Emory 2; Coe 1; Dickinson 1; Salem State 1.