Zoller wants to leave lasting legacy at Penn

Four years ago, Mark Zoller simply was looking for a scholarship to play college hoops. A 6-6 forward ("on a good day"), he'd just helped lead St. Joseph's Prep and second-year coach Speedy Morris to the Catholic League title for the first time in a long time.

Still, it wasn't enough to get him the kind of offers he was hoping for.

"I was too this, or too that," he recalled. "I wasn't [considered] big enough to hold my own in the post, and I was too slow to be an outside guy. It's frustrating. I knew I could play at [the Division I] level. There's a certain type of pride involved in that."

Boston University and Colgate were interested. Several Big 5 schools wanted him to walk on and try to "earn" a full ride. Then he went to see Penn play Villanova. And everything changed.

"It was at the Wachovia Center, and [Penn] just pretty much killed them [72-58]," Zoller explained. "Penn is unique in its own way. And I was willing to listen to anyone who was willing to listen to me. Being a Philly kid, this was a way for me to keep playing in the city. That was a big sell."

Penn, of course, gives only financial aid based on need. So for Zoller, who has two older sisters, it was very much a family decision.

"My parents always stressed education," he said. "They told me not to worry [about the money]. They wanted me to be happy. I'm the baby, so I get spoiled a little bit. They thought of it as an investment in me, and my future."

The Quakers won the Ivy League title the two seasons before Zoller arrived. Tonight, they can clinch a third consecutive crown if they can beat second-place Yale at the Palestra. The Quakers hold a two-game lead in the loss column, with three to play. Yale, which hasn't won at Penn since 1997, handed the Quakers their lone Ivy loss on Feb. 3.

Yale hasn't swept this series since 1966-67. If it does, Penn can still go back to the NCAA Tournament by beating Brown at home tomorrow night and Princeton on the road Tuesday. The Quakers would prefer to get it over with. They haven't won three straight league titles since the mid-1990s.

"We want to go out on top, really leave our mark," Zoller said. "This is our legacy. There's a lot of tradition here. People expected us to win. We worked hard to prove why people thought that way."

The Quakers (19-8, 10-1) have a new coach, Glen Miller, who came from Brown after Fran Dunphy left for Temple. So even with three senior starters, it's been a transition. Ibrahim Jaaber, the 2006 Ivy Player of the Year, has moved from the wing to the point and assumed a somewhat different role. Zoller, meanwhile, has upped his scoring average from 12.7 points a game to 18.2. He's shooting 55.4 percent from the field, 38.4 from the arc, and pulling down a team-best 7.3 rebounds.

"I always thought he was a winner," Miller said. "He's consistent with his effort, every day. He's expanded his game to where he can score from any area on the floor. When he's matched up against frontcourt players, he has a distinct advantage because he doesn't have to be athletic to score.

"And he's crafty. He knows how to feel his way off the contact in the post, get around people, create his own shot. He's got good ball fakes, or he can step out and shoot. Many times, he's brought the ball up against pressure."

If Penn winds up cutting down the nets again, the only question is who's the player of the year this time? You can make a case for either Jaaber or Zoller.

"You can't take away what Ibby's done," Zoller said. "He's always a presence out there. We've never really talked about personal accolades, to be honest. We just go play. To even be mentioned in the same breath as him is an honor for me."

They're just trying to cement their place in program history, where they'll be forever linked.

"Coming in, I really didn't think I'd play that much until I was maybe a junior," said Zoller, who started 21 times his first season, 21 more than Jaaber. "I knew coach Dunphy didn't like to play young guys, at least not right away, but I guess he had confidence in me. And that gave me confidence in myself.

"Coach Miller said I was going to have to do even more this year. But that goes with being a senior."

The Quakers have won 19 straight at home in the league. The last 2 years, they clinched on the road.

"Any time you have an opportunity to win, you want to do it the right way," Zoller said. "Doing it on your home court would be something special. We want to show the league, and everyone else, we are the team we claim to be.

"This team has a sense of pride. We want to win every time we take the court."

Sounds as if it was worth the loans. *