Michael Ansani
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- Year:
- 1998
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- Hometown:
- Mount Prospect, Ill.
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- High School:
- St. Viator
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- Team:
- Basketball
Mike Ansani grew up in Mount Prospect, Illinois, and attended St.
Viator High School. He was named to the Daily Herald
All-Area Team his junior and senior seasons and, as a senior,
was named St. Viator’s Most Valuable Player and the East
Suburban Catholic Conference Player of the Year. He was later
inducted into the St. Viator Hall of Fame.
Ansani entered Lake Forest College in the fall of 1994 and became
one of the most accomplished basketball players in the
program’s history. He led the team in assists and was among
the leaders in several other categories as a freshman as the
Foresters improved six games from the previous season. He earned
Second Team All-Midwest Conference South Division honors and was
named the team’s MVP as a sophomore after leading the squad
in rebounding and finishing second in points, assists, and steals.
He ranked first on the team in all four categories and was a First
Team All-MWC South selection as a junior. He also repeated as the
Foresters’ MVP as a junior and senior, making him just the
fourth player in the program’s recorded history to earn the
award at least three times. Ansani led the 1997-98 team with 18.6
points and 6.1 rebounds per game as Lake Forest made its first
appearance in the MWC Tournament since joining the league in 1974.
In addition to earning First Team All-MWC South honors again, he
was selected as the division’s Player of the Year – the
first such award in team history. He finished his career as the
program’s career leader in field goal percentage (58.9%) and
ranked eighth in school history with 1,292 points. He was also
among the leaders in assists and steals.
While at Lake Forest Ansani was also a member of the Brotherhood
fraternity. In addition to his exploits on the basketball court, he
was awarded membership into the Phi Beta Kappa Honorary Society and
Beta Beta Beta Biology Honorary Society and was a three-time
Academic All-MWC selection. He majored in biology and chemistry and
graduated summa cum laude in 1998.
Ansani later graduated from the Chicago College of Osteopathic
Medicine and began a career as a hospitalist physician.