Before he was his coach, Penn's Allen helped Rosen grow
Before he would become the head men's basketball coach at Penn, Jerome Allen received key insight into what makes the Quakers' senior point guard, Zack Rosen, tick.
Before he would become the head men's basketball coach at Penn, Jerome Allen received key insight into what makes the Quakers' senior point guard, Zack Rosen, tick.
In the summer of 2009, Allen wasn't affiliated with the program but was asked by Rosen to help him improve his game.
Rosen had just finished a successful freshman season but was looking to refine his game. Allen told him he would work with him in the summer but with one caveat.
The former Penn guard wanted to see how truly committed Rosen was, so he told him to report to the Palestra for summer workouts by 6 a.m.
"My gauge to see how serious somebody is if they are willing to come that early to work out," Allen said. "He was there every day at 6."
Even when Allen was as much as an hour and a half late for meetings, he would find Rosen there, ready to go.
"He was really serious about improving," Allen said.
Since then Rosen has made serious improvement.
The 6-foot-1 Rosen, who admittedly wasn't consistent from the perimeter as a freshman, is now a serious outside threat. He can drive and dish just as adeptly.
Rosen has scored 1,121 points and added 415 assists in his career. With 91 more assists, he will become Penn's all-time leader, passing a familiar player - Jerome Allen.
That's not bad for somebody who said he was the fifth option on his high school team, national power St. Benedict of Newark, N.J., coached at the time by Danny Hurley, now the head coach at Wagner. Among his St. Benedict teammates was Tristan Thompson, the No. 4 overall pick in June's NBA draft by the Cleveland Cavaliers
"In 16 years of coaching, Zack Rosen is one of the special guys I have coached," Hurley said in a phone interview. "He is a great leader, and his passion for the game exceeded any other player I ever coached."
While Rosen enjoyed a solid freshman season and was named the Ivy League rookie of the year, he knew he had to improve his perimeter game after shooting 28.4 percent from beyond the arc.
"It was embarrassing," Rosen recalled. "Teams wouldn't fight off screens, and they would just let me shoot."
During his sophomore season, Rosen shot 42.5 percent from beyond the arc and has been a threat ever since.
The grueling summer workouts pointed him in the right direction.
There were even times when Allen wanted a day off, but he had to deal with Rosen's constant phone calls, asking when he would be there.
"He got so sick of me calling that he deleted my number," Rosen said.
It's an allegation Allen doesn't deny.
"He was persistent," Allen said, laughing.
Rosen, a business management major in the Wharton School, is hoping to play basketball professionally at some level.
Two years ago, he played in the Maccabiah Games, and it further whet his appetite to further his basketball career.
"It was an unbelievable experience and I fell in love with international basketball and that scene," Rosen said.
Allen, who spent two seasons in the NBA and played overseas, said that Rosen can extend his basketball career past his time at Penn.
"He has an unbelievable work ethic, and the best part about Zack is that he wants to learn, wants to be critiqued and have a better vision," Allen said.
The learning and critiquing continued this summer, and one of the teachers was former Temple point guard Lynn Greer.
"Lynn Greer was one of my heroes growing up," Rosen said. "He was a lefty who would score and just make defenders look stupid, and he was so helpful to me."
Rosen has a good vibe about this year's Penn squad, although Harvard, the defending Ivy League cochampion, is clearly the favorite.
Penn as a spoiler?
"We like the team we have," Rosen said. "Wherever anybody else is picking us, we have a lot of players who did good work this summer and put themselves in a position to be successful this year."
About the Quakers
Record: 13-15 overall, 7-7 in Ivy League (fourth place)
Coach: Jerome Allen (third season, 19-30)
Returning starters: G-F Tyler Bernardini, 6-6, Sr. (12.9 ppg., 3.9 rpg.); G Zack Rosen, 6-1, Sr. (14.3 ppg., 5.4 apg.); G Miles Cartwright, 6-3, Soph., (11.7 ppg.)
Key losses: F Jack Eggleston, F-C Conor Turley
FIVE THINGS TO WATCH
After finishing last in the Ivy League in rebounding (29.7 per game) and blocked shots (2.3) and seventh in offensive rebounding (8.0 rpg.), can the Quakers improve in these areas?
With Cartright, Bernardini, and Rose, does Penn have the deepest backcourt in the league?
Penn's nonleague schedule should prepare the Quakers for Ivy League competition. In addition to playing the Big Five teams, the Quakers visit UCLA (in Anaheim, Calif.) and will make a New Year's Day visit to Duke.
Even though the Quakers return 70.1 percent of their scoring, can they provide much offensive depth beyond Bernardini, Rosen, and Cartright?
Will the Quakers find a suitable replacement for Eggleston, who averaged 13.2 points and 8.0 rebounds?
- Marc Narducci
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About the Ivy League
LAST SEASON IN REVIEW
Ivy League champions: Harvard (23-7, 12-2) and Princeton (25-7, 12-2) tied for the Ivy League title. Princeton won a 63-62 one-game playoff that earned the Ivy League's automatic NCAA bid. The Tigers lost in the opening round, 59-57, to Kentucky. Harvard played in the NIT and suffered a 71-54 first-round loss to Oklahoma State.
FIVE THINGS TO WATCH
The Ivy League's four top scorers, all seniors, return. They are guard Noruwa Agho of Columbia (16.8 ppg.), Yale forward-center Greg Mangano (16.3), Harvard forward Keith Wright (14.8), and Penn guard Zack Rosen (14.3).
The 6-foot-8, 240-pound Wright is the reigning Ivy League player of the year after averaging 8.3 rebounds, and leading the league in field goal percentage (.584), and finishing second in blocked shots (1.8).
For the first time, Harvard has been selected as the preseason Ivy League favorite, earning 16 of 17 first-place votes from a panel of media representatives. Besides Wright, other key returnees include senior guard Oliver McNally, who finished second in the nation in free-throw percentage (100-108, .926), and juniors Kyle Casey (10.7 ppg, 6.0 rpg.) Brandyn Curry (league-leading 5.9 assists per game), and Christian Webster (13.0 ppg.).
New Princeton coach and alumnus Mitch Henderson welcomes back four starters, led by junior forward Ian Hummer (13.8 ppg., 6.8 rpg.)
The 6-10 Mangano (16.3 ppg., 10.0 rpg.) was the first Yale player to average a double-double since former NBA player Chris Dudley in 1986-87. Mangano declared for the NBA draft but withdrew his name before the deadline.
- Marc Narducci
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