Julian Vaughn: The Foundation?

This is the eleventh in a series previewing the 2010-2011 Hoyas.  For a complete look at this year’s team, go here.

In barely one year, senior post Julian Vaughn has gone from a bit role player to a central building block, perhaps the greatest bellwether for Georgetown’s upcoming season. Vaughn arrived on campus in advance of the 2008-2009 season, a sophomore transfer from Florida State.  He barely made a dent during that disastrous campaign, averaging under 10 minutes, 2 points, and 2 rebounds per game, and generating few memories in a season Georgetown fans would prefer to forget, anyway.

Coming into last season, the Hoya faithful did not know what to make of Vaughn, or of the gap in the lineup left by DaJuan Summers’s entry into the NBA.  Would Vaughn start, just a year after barely making a blip on the Georgetown radar?  Would Henry Sims who, despite making similarly few contributions in his first season as a Hoya, had been a highly touted recruit, blossom into a front-court star?  In retrospect, the uncertainty seems odd: Vaughn started from day one, and performed ably, if not spectacularly, averaging 7.4 points and 4.4 rebounds as a solid complement to Greg Monroe.  He provided a steady diet of rebounding, defense, and interior scoring. He even had a few breakout performances, most notably an 18-point explosion against Washington, most of which came in a second-half run that put the game on ice, and a 19-point game against Providence, when Monroe became Bill Walton for a half, repeatedly feeding Vaughn inside for easy scores.

Unfortunately, the Providence outing on February 9 was the last game in which Vaughn sniffed double figures in scoring.  His rebounds also declined: only once in the last dozen outings did he surpass five rebounds. The cause (or effect?) of his decreased production may have been his drop-off in minutes. Vaughn played less than 20 minutes just twice in the first twenty-four games (once because of foul trouble), but played less than half of the game three times in the last eight contests.  Rumors persisted about Vaughn’s health (some initially speculated that Austin Freeman’s mysterious illness, which turned out to be diabetes, was a flu from which Vaughn also suffered). An equally plausible explanation for Vaughn’s decreased productivity was that he just wore down: he is heavy-framed, was not used to playing heavy minutes at the college level, and tired when many players due, in late February. Even with the late-season swoon, though, Vaughn’s junior year was a revelation, particularly in comparison to his sophomore year.

This year, Vaughn is the centerpiece of the Hoyas’ front-court, by necessity as much as anything.  The Hoyas will count on Vaughn for a full-game’s minutes from Friday night’s game against Old Dominion through March because the other interior options — Sims, Jerrelle Benimon, Nate Lubick, Moses Ayegba — are too young, or too undeveloped to be counted on for heavy contributions.  And Vaughn will need to be more than just a minutes-eater — he will be largely responsible for providing the necessary rebounding and interior scoring in Monroe’s absence.

At the Kenner League last summer, Vaughn showed of a repertoire of post moves and an ability to finish inside, frequently dominating the competition. He lapsed into passivity (or perhaps fatigue) from time to time, a forgivable shortcoming shared at one time or another by just about everyone who played in the sometimes-loose Kenner League. But, there are signs that he’ll be the player the Hoyas need this year: he’s morphed from an occasional jump-shooter to a banger down low, and showed leadership on a team featuring his younger teammate, Vee Sanford. He’ll have to be more polished in his offensive game–Monroe would be there to feed him easy dunks–but he also will have more room to establish his post game. To what extent he does so may determine the undersized Hoyas’ fate this year.