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Although upset that Penn point guard Zack Rosen just got done torching the team he coaches, Robert Morris head coach Andrew Toole made sure to tell Rosen one thing when Saturdays game ended.
The message: make the NCAA tournament.
The way Rosen is going, he may very well get there.
In a game pitting two teams coached by former standout Penn guards, it was Penns current crop of guards that stole the show. And no one was better than the red-hot Rosen, who had 19 points and 10 assists to led the Quakers past visiting Robert Morris, 66-60, in a Philly Hoop Group Classic contest at the Palestra.
For Toole, who led Penn to back-to-back Ivy League championships as a heady point guard in 2002 and 2003, it was both fun and torturous seeing Rosen do the kinds of things he used to do on the Palestra floor.
One side makes me proud that hes part of a program I used to play for, said Toole, the youngest head coach in Division I. And I told him in the handshake line, Please go to the NCAA tournament. Because he really deserves to do that, just because he cares so much and respects the game and respects this program so much. I hope it happens for him. At the same time, it hurts because hes doing it against your team.
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Rosen is now averaging 22.8 points per game this season for the Quakers, who are off to an impressive 3-1 start with their only loss coming in overtime to a strong Temple team.
Unlike the two guards coaching on opposite benches SaturdayToole and Penn head coach Jerome AllenRosens career at Penn has been marked mostly by turmoil and losing. The senior has already established himself as one of the great guards in Penn history but he only has one more chance to follow in the footsteps of other Quaker greats and make the NCAA tournament.
Toole, whos often said theres nothing better than March Madness, will be rooting for him to get there.
I knew Zack when he was in high school and I watched his career, the Robert Morris coach said. I have such respect for the way he works and his dedication to the game and his commitment to Penn basketball.
Rosen, who shot 5 for 7 from three-point range, certainly had help to take down a strong Robert Morris squad that came into Saturdays game with an unblemished 2-0 record. Fellow guards Tyler Bernardini and Miles Cartwright added 19 and 12 points, respectively, as the Quakers shot a blistering 51.2 percent from the field and 50 percent from beyond the arc.
Zacks terrific and is absolutely the backbone of this team. I cant say enough good things about who he is as a player and a person, Toole said. Miles Cartwright is extremely talented. And Bernardini did a great job, showing us a lot more of his ability to put it on the floor tonight than he had in the past. I think theyll continue to get good guards and continue to get good players. Jerome has them going in the right direction for sure.
For Toole, being on the Palestra floor brought back a flood of great memories. And he spent a couple hours before Saturdays game began talking about some of them with various people from the Penn community.
At first, it looked at first like the young coach would create another good memory in his Palestra homecoming, as his Colonials played an inspired brand of basketball to jump out to a quick 10-0 lead in the first-ever meeting between the two schools.
But the Quakers slowly crawled back and then used a crippling 16-0 burst between the end of the first half and the start of the second half to pull away. From there, they made just enough free throws down the stretch to hand Robert Morris its first loss of the season, despite a team-high 16 points from Colonial guard and Philly native Velton Jones.
Obviously the way the game started, I thought we were prepared and ready to go, Toole said. And that quickly vanished. We played two extremely spirited minutes and then over the next 38 we kind of lost our way.
I guess I didnt do a good enough job preparing our guys for what they were going to see.
Both Penn and Robert Morris have more Hoop Group games coming up with Tooles Colonials taking on James Madison, La Salle and Pittsburgh in the coming week, and the Quakers hosting Wagner on Tuesday followed by Palestra games against Pitt and James Madison next weekend.
Both Allen and Rosen believe Robert Morris will get back on the winning tracknot just for these Hoop Group game but for the rest of the season, as well.
Toole is currently in his second year in charge of the Colonials, after stints as an assistant at Lafayette and then Robert Morris.
Ive known Coach Toole for about 10 years now and talked to him a lot about what Penn was like, Rosen said. You can say he had an influence on me coming here. He loved it here, and hes doing a hell of a job at Robert Morris.
Coach Toole is doing a tremendous job there at Robert Morris, Allen added. The guys played hard and played together. They really compete and get after it. I know theyre going to win a ton of games this season. I wish him nothing but the best of luck.Email Dave Zeitlin at djzeitlin@gmail.com