[3] Rose had planned to attend a NCAA Division III school to play basketball when he was noticed by Bob Ward, a volunteer assistant with the George Mason Patriots who was at home for Christmas break in December 1981.

He was invited to join the team by general manager Elgin Baylor to replace Reggie Williams after an injury.

[3] Rose later played in the Philippine Basketball Association for the Purefoods Hotdogs in the 1990 Reinforced Conference and helped the team win their first ever championship despite getting injured in the final game.

The next year Rose would average 18.6 points, 7.5 rebounds and 8.5 assists per game on his way to the National Basketball League MVP.

Rose combined with Mark Davis, Mike McKay, Phil Smyth and Brett Maher to lead the team to the 1994 NBL Grand Final Series where they were defeated by the North Melbourne Giants in two games (Rose averaged 32 points for the series), as well as the 1995 Semi-Finals against the Perth Wildcats.

He then signed with North Queensland rivals the Cairns Taipans for the 2006–07 season before retiring in December 2006[7] having played in 472 NBL games.