George Mason University alumni and basketball standouts Jen Derevjanik ('04) and Rob Rose ('86) will be honored as Atlantic 10 Legends at the league's respective Men's and Women's Basketball Championships this March, the conference announced today.
Derevjanik and Rose both played professionally after their collegiate careers and are among a 28-member Legends Class of 2015 that includes eleven All-Americans and 10 that went on to play professionally.
“The Atlantic 10 is pleased to honor the 2015 Legends class and congratulate them on their accomplishments,” stated A-10 Commissioner Bernadette V. McGlade. “Their contributions to the basketball legacy at their institutions helped lay the groundwork for establishing the Atlantic 10 as a premier basketball league. I congratulate each of them on their distinguished careers that have led to this great accolade.”
Jen Derevjanik is one of two George Mason players to reach the WNBA, playing five seasons for two teams―the Connecticut Sun and the Phoenix Mercury. In her two seasons as a member of the Sun in 2004 and 2005, the teams finished runner-up in the WNBA Finals. While she was a member of the Mercury, the team won a WNBA Championship in 2007.
Derevjanik, from Staten Island, New York, started a Patriots school record 116 consecutive games and is among the top five all-time in Mason's history books in four categories, including third in both assists (469) and points (1,637). In 2004, she led the Patriots to the CAA Championship Final, earning all-tournament team honors. As a senior, she ranked in the top 15 in eight categories in the CAA, including second in the conference with 16.3 points per game, and was first in assist/turnover ratio (2.1). She scored a career-high 40 points in the CAA tournament semifinal game against VCU.
Spanning her four year career at Mason, she earned CAA Rookie of the Year honors in 2001, was a two-time All-CAA Second Team award winner, and as a senior garnered All-CAA First Team honors. She earned a BA in Psychology at Mason and was named to the 2004 Academic All-America Women's Basketball District III University Division First Team. She went on to earn conference All-Academic accolades for her efforts in the classroom.
In addition to her WNBA career, Derevjanik has played professionally overseas since 2004 in Greece, Slovakia, Latvia, Russia, and Lithuania. During her first two seasons with Lietuvos Telekomas of the FIBA Euroleague, her team was crowned League Champions (2005) and played in the Euroleague Final Four in 2006.
In 2011, after her last season playing professionally in Greece, Derevjanik moved back to Staten Island to attend graduate school at Wagner College where she earned a master's degree in elementary education and special education in 2013. During that time she served as an assistant coach on the Seahawks women's basketball staff, and as an academic advisor in the athletic department.
She is currently a fourth-grade teacher at Bound Brook Elementary School, and is the Bound Brook High School girl's basketball coach in New Jersey.
Rob Rose led Mason to a 74‒42 record from 1982 through 1986, culminating with the Patriots first-ever NIT bid his senior year. In the 1985-86 season, Mason recorded a 20‒12 record, 1‒4 in the conference, and won two games in the CAA Championship before losing in the championship game to the David Robinson-led Navy team, which made it to the Elite Eight in the NCAA Tournament.
The Rochester, New York, native ranks in the Top 10 in several categories in the Patriots record books. He is 8th on the career-scoring list (1,565 points), 4th in career field goal percentage, 9th for career rebounds, third for career steals, and 6th for career blocked shots. He earned All-CAA Second Team as a junior and First Team All-CAA his senior year.
After graduation, Rose embarked on a career in professional basketball that would span 21 years, as a journeyman for the first six years, playing in the CBA, Belgium, Israel, Argentina, and the Philippines, and a quick NBA appearance in two games in 1989 for the Los Angeles Clippers. In 1992, Rose embarked on an outstanding 16-year career in the Australian National Basketball League, earning two NBL MVP honors before retiring after the 2006-07 season. He was voted onto the NBL's 25th Anniversary Team in 2003, which recognized the best and most influential players in league history.
In his first season, he led the South-East Melbourne Magic to the NBL Championship. In year two he would earn his first MVP honor, averaging 18.6 points, 7.5 rebounds, and 8.5 assists per game. In Rose's first decade in the NBL he earned NBL First Team five times, was a two-time MVP (1993, 2001), was NBL All-Star Game MVP (1995), and played in three NBL Grand Final Championships. He played for five different teams in his NBL career.
Rob and his wife, Patricia, opened up a wine bar and restaurant called Vine21 in 2009. The name was derived from the uniform number Rob wore for 13 of the 16 seasons he played in Australia. Rose is currently working for a wine distribution company. He has two sons, Nicolas and Jacob, and lives in Pasadena, California.
The Women's Basketball Legends will be saluted with a breakfast on Friday, March 6 prior to the 2014 A-10 Women's Basketball Championship quarterfinals. The event will take place at the Richmond Marriott beginning at 9:00 a.m.
The Men's Basketball Legends will be honored on March 14 at Barclays Center in Brooklyn, N.Y. prior to the 2015 Men's Basketball Championship semifinals. The celebration awards brunch will be in the 40/40 Club, beginning at 11:00 a.m. prior to the A-10 men's semifinal games.
A limited number of brunch tickets are available to the general public. For more information, please contact the Atlantic 10 Conference at 757-706-3041.
