CAMBRIDGE, Mass. — The news arrived a month ago, courtesy of the Web site D3hoops.com. The Massachusetts Institute of Technology, known for its astronauts, physicists and Nobel laureates, was the No. 1 Division III basketball team in the nation.

Much has happened to the Engineers since. They have embraced the attention while coping with the loss of two critical players, center Noel Hollingsworth and guard Jamie Karraker. They gave Harvard, their academic equal but basketball superior — the Crimson play in Division I — a scare in an exhibition game Friday night. They have five freshmen who form what the coach called an excellent recruiting class, despite the institution’s strict admission standards.

They open their season Thursday night at Lesley University, hoping to build on the success of last season, when they finished 29-2 and advanced to the Division III Final Four for the first time. M.I.T. returns four starters from that team, which lost to the eventual champion, Wisconsin-Whitewater, in the semifinals.

“We’re honored to be in this position, but we’re humbled at the same time,” said Coach Larry Anderson, beginning his 18th year. “We’ve come a long way to get where we are right now. Most people would say they’d rather be ranked No. 1 at the end of the season than at the beginning of the season. I say, How about let’s try to get both of them?”