Featured Stories
Vaughn in search of offense
By Paul Dehner Jr., CNATI.com Posted December 21, 2009 6:36 PM ET
There were no lack of variables surrounding the Cincinnati Bearcats this season.
Would Lance Stephenson make a smooth transition from high school to college? Would the Bearcats find a complement to Yancy Gates on the interior? Can Mick Cronin muster enough magic to return the program to its elite level of the 1990s?
If ranked in a confidence poll, the least concerning of all the variables likely would have been one name: Deonta Vaughn.
After all, he was a two-time All-Big East player, finally able to move to his natural position off the ball and returning for a senior season that could serve as a coronation of one of the great careers in UC history.
On a team full of question marks, he was the exclamation point. He was the rock. The foundation.
One game away from opening two months of taxing Big East battles, however, the Bearcats' foundation is cracked.
Vaughn enters tonight's game against Winthrop averaging 9.7 points per contest, almost six points shy of his average last season. In his last four games, he made 3 of 23 from 3-point range and suffered his worst drought of scoring since December of his freshman year.
He was even shutout in the win against Miami.
"I have been on a drought every year I have been here," Vaughn said. "I've been on a nice scoring rampage and been on a drought. Maybe I am starting off different than I usually do, but hopefully it is going to pick up."
UC's season will likely depend on it.
The Bearcats rank in the top 10 in the country in rebounding and are allowing 62.1 points a game. The difference between NIT and NCAA will be in the development of the offense. In that respect, no player is counted on more than Vaughn.
Cronin says there is no pressure on his senior leader individually to resuscitate an offense currently ranked 136th in Division I in points per game (71.1).
"Every guy needs to be productive in their own way," Cronin said. "Part of us developing as a team is learning how to be effective as an individual player on the floor...On offense you have to realize I am pretty good making these kinds of shots from these spots on the floor. We have to have that figured out by Big East play, that's important."
Cronin is returning the ball and confidence to Vaughn's hands in order to do so. After the loss to UAB, Vaughn requested a return to the point guard position he played predominantly last season. This year with the return of a healthy Cashmere Wright, Vaughn moved many of his minutes to the shooting guard spot.
Wright's success has been spotty. The same can be said for Vaughn.
"I'm more comfortable now being back at the 1," Vaughn said. "I told (Cronin's) father after the UAB game I want to play the 1 and get us started early and get involved. Being a leader on the team I take full responsibility if we don't get involved in our offense when I am at the point guard spot."
All these come as fixes to a problem that began this summer. Vaughn admits his offseason was far from the most productive of his career. The senior spent less time with his teammates in Clifton and more time at home in Indianapolis dealing with personal issues.
"It wasn't the best offseason," Vaughn said. "That is mainly my fault. I was taking care of business and things like that."
Add in an ankle injury suffered over the summer and the results of inefficient preparation rolled into the regular season.
"I noticed it quick during the season," Vaughn said. "Early on I wasn't' as aggressive as I should be."
Without spending much time with a team that added a freshman as its new leading scorer and dealing with changing offensive roles in every position because of it, Vaughn grew timid. He has taken single-digit shots in seven of the 10 games this year.
He took single-digit shots in only nine games all of last season.
"I was trying to be more of a passer than be myself and try to get everyone involved," said Vaughn, who is shooting 34 percent from the floor, almost four percent less than the previous low from his freshman season. "Since we had a great team and things like that I figured I didn't have to shoot as much. Coach told me shoot the ball now, things like that. I'm starting to shoot it up there and I am just trying to get my rhythm back. It takes a couple of games for you to do that. Hopefully by the time we play UConn I will have my rhythm."
Coaches have critiqued Vaughn's shot style, pointing out he has been fading away on many of his 3-pointers. He says it's a result of a summer spent thinking about landing with his weak ankle on somebody's foot.
For now, he spends practice minutes working on shooting straight up and straight down. Once he hits the floor on game nights, he tries to forget it. Thinking can serve as kryptonite for a shooter whose played the role of Superman in this program for the past three years.
It may only take one big game. That's the great news about the arrival of Big East play, it has consistently brought the best out of Vaughn over the years. Three of his top four games last season - including a career-high 34-point outburst against Notre Dame - came inside the conference.
"I feel like that is when I am going to come out of my shell and start scoring more, being aggressive and doing the things we got to do to get a win," Vaughn said. "The Big East is a whole 'nother season and hopefully I start off right."
Hopefully, indeed.
Categories: College, Featured Stories, Features, Men's Basketball, University of Cincinnati Bearcats
Tags: Deonta Vaughn, MIck Cronin, University of Cincinnati
Comments (0)