Ballin'! Sixers give out a holler to Zoller

Every little boy dreams of one day being able to play professionally for his local team. Mark Zoller, a Blue Bell, Pa. native, recently took a step towards fulfilling this dream.

The recent Penn grad and All-Ivy basketball player worked out on Tuesday with the Philadelphia 76ers at the Philadelphia College of Osteopathic Medicine.

"Getting a chance to try out with my favorite team and put on that jersey was just an honor, a dream come true," Zoller said.

This won't be the only chance for Zoller to showcase his skills and try to earn a ticket to basketball's biggest stage - the Philadelphia Inquirer reported that he has more workouts scheduled, with the Washington Wizards and another with the Memphis Grizzlies.

For his former coach, Glen Miller, these invites are no surprise.

"He's been an awfully good player," Miller said. "He's been first team All-Big 5, All-Ivy. Year in and year out, he's proven himself. I don't think he'd characterize it as surprising, either."

The workout consisted of physical drills, skill work, and some one-on-one and two-on-two competition.

Zoller was in the first of two groups invited to the workout. His fellow invitees included Atlantic Coast Conference Player of the Year Jared Dudley of Boston College, and Nick Fazekas - a three-time Western Athletic Conference POY - of Nevada.

Rounding out the group was highly touted 19-year old Russian national Artem Zabelin.

All three are likely to hear their names called at the NBA Draft in June.

Despite the stiff competition, Zoller said that he held his own, and Miller added that "it went well, he was solid as always, and ... it was a good experience for him."

And although it wasn't the first time that Zoller has faced top big men before (he matched up against Dudley in the first round of the 2005 NCAA Tournament), this opportunity helped him learn in more ways than one.

"We hung out in the locker room, made a few jokes," Zoller said. "It was nice to talk to other guys that were going through the same stuff as me."

Like his former teammate Ibrahim Jaaber - who played in the Portsmouth Invitational, a showcase for some future pros - it's unlikely that Zoller will be drafted in June.

What's more likely is that he will go overseas to play professionally, possibly in the Italian League where he also has a tryout scheduled.

However, this workout has given him the confidence that he knows he can succeed and maybe end up in the NBA one day.

"I felt like I was right there with them," he said.

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