As the NCAA Men and Women’s Basketball championships concluded this week and ended the month of “March Madness,” I looked back to Penn Basketball’s most recent “Hurrah” in the NCAA’s. Four years ago, Penn senior Zack Rosen was a finalist for the Lowe’s Senior Class Award. The finalists were pictured around the Final Four host city New Orleans and recognized on court between the two Final Four games. That year Robbie Hummel of Purdue eventually won the award.
Since then, Penn Basketball is in a rebuilding effort, with this year being the first of new head coach Steve Donahue. Hopefully in the coming years, the team will return to compete in the NCAA tournament. While it was nice to see the Ivy League’s entry Yale win in their first round game this year, I hope that Penn will be once again be making regular appearances in the tournament representing the Ivy League.
Here is my original post from the Frankly Penn blog, published on March 30, 2012.
Hurrah, Hurrah! Zack Rosen at the Final Four!
By Kiera Reilly, C’93 (@KieraReilly)
This weekend, as Louisville and Kentucky, Ohio State and Kansas battle it out in the NCAA Final Four Men’s Basketball Championships in New Orleans, Penn Athletics teams will be playing Women’s Lacrosse, Softball, Women’s Tennis, Baseball, Men’s Lacrosse, Men’s Lightweight Rowing, Men’s Tennis, Women’s Golf and Men’s Golf. But Penn will be represented at the Final Four.
How? By virtue of Men’s Basketball senior guard and team captain Zack Rosen, who is one of ten finalists for the Lowe’s Senior CLASS Award. The award, “is presented each year to the outstanding senior NCAA Division I Student-Athlete of the Year across ten different sports. The acronym “CLASS” stands for Celebrating Loyalty and Achievement for Staying in School®.”
Each of the ten finalists is profiled on the award website, and you can read about why Zack was nominated here: http://www.seniorclassaward.com/athletes/zack_rosen/.
Just this week, Zack wrote an editorial published in The Daily Pennsylvanian, thanking the students for supporting the team this year. As you can see in the comments below his piece, the fans write to thank him for bringing excitement back to Penn basketball. I for one, am a huge Penn Basketball fan, and was thrilled when the team visited southern California this year (read my earlier post about the fans that came to cheer for the Quakers). When I was on campus in February, I attended the Penn-Harvard and Penn-Dartmouth games, and it felt like old times in the Palestra – a packed house with Penn alumni and students cheering loudly for our beloved Quakers. Much of that spirit is thanks to Zack Rosen, being the best player on the court and a class act off the court.
The finalists are in New Orleans now, and participated in a service project this morning. Tomorrow, between the two final four games, the winner will be announced. In the meantime, their photos adorn a bus and a hotel in New Orleans. Pretty cool to see a Penn player receive some well-deserved national recognition.
Lowe’s Senior CLASS bus in New Orleans.
Installing the Lowe’s Senior CLASS photo on the Sheraton in New Orleans.
Lowe’s Senior CLASS Award finalists on the Sheraton Hotel in New Orleans.
Photos from Lowe’s Senior CLASS Award Facebook page.
Congratulations Zack!
Hurrah, Hurrah, Pennsylvania!
More links
A Penn YouTube video highlights Zack.
Penn Athletics article on Zack’s trip to New Orleans.
Unanimous Ivy League Player of the Year: Zack Rosen on Philly.com.
Rosen is named second-team ECAC Division I All-Star, the only Ivy player named.
Capsule review of Penn’s season by PhilaHoops.com
Rosen dives into life with same passion as hoops on CSNPhilly.
This post was originally published on the Frankly Penn blog on March 30, 2012.
Kiera Reilly 