CORRECTION: In a previous version of this article, Mitchell Kates’ and Will Tashman’s class standings were misstated. Both of them are seniors. The Daily Orange regrets this error.

Massachusetts Institute of Technology head basketball coach Larry Anderson walks into gymnasiums across the country and recruits players like any coach. But Anderson also has to find athletes with the academic pedigree to be accepted to one of the most renowned academic universities in the nation.

MIT students are some of the brightest in the world. And the Engineers men’s basketball team has also proven to be among the top programs in Division III. Last season the team finished 29-2 and made it to the Final Four. This year, MIT is off to a 6-1 start.

“It’s been an amazing experience,” senior Mitchell Kates said. “Coming in as a freshman the precedent has been set of going to the tournament and building a culture of basketball at MIT. Taking a part in that and helping continue that tradition to bring MIT basketball to new levels.”

MIT has produced a handful of players who have played professionally overseas, but the odds are low for any player to make the NBA. Anderson sees the bigger picture, and so do his players.

“They know they have an ace in their back pocket that they can go to Wall Street, they can go be an engineer,” Anderson said. “But they’re students first. They know why they’re here.”

Kates and Will Tashman, both seniors, have taught the underclassmen how to be student-athletes at MIT, Anderson said.

The players said they have no problem juggling school and basketball. Any player at any level has to make sacrifices, but it’s manageable. MIT gives players a window with no classes so they can attend practices.

“I think every student-athlete has to deal with a little bit of that,” Tashman said. “It’s just basic time-management issues. MIT’s different, just maybe a little more. Basically like that on steroids.”

Less than 10 percent of MIT applicants are accepted, so Anderson’s players are among the brightest. But the players’ excellence in the classroom comes with a stigma that says their athletic careers will be short.

Anderson said he recruits prospective student-athletes, but they must be admitted by the school.

“What we do is we recruit prospective student-athletes to become candidates for admissions,” Anderson said. “We do not admit. The admissions office does that part. They just allow us to coach.

“The kids we coach here are students first,” Anderson said. “They crave that academic challenge as well as basketball. So it’s not quite as hard when you have the opportunity to coach some of the brightest kids in the whole world. It makes it a little bit easier. But I think they would be a little disappointed if they came to MIT and they didn’t have this kind of challenge in the classroom as well as the basketball court.”

MIT alumni have become NASA astronauts, Rhodes Scholars and prominent political figures. Anderson said it’s a perception outsiders have of his players.

But they’re not all stereotypical geeks.

“These students are not from Mars,” Anderson said. “If they get hungry, they’re going to have to eat, so they’re no different from you and me.”

Tashman wants to get into product market design, investigating or designing metals, glasses or rubbers for oil companies. He also has interest in working with renewable energy involving batteries or solar cells.

Kates wants to go into web development startup. While he’s enjoying life as a student-athlete, he’s looking forward to what he can do off the basketball court.

Said Kates of his future career: “Something cool that will make a difference in the world, not just something to make money.”

Published on December 5, 2012 at 1:04 am

Contact Josh: jmhyber@syr.edu