John Vaughan Steps Up His Game

By Broadside Staff Writer Matt Molina
Photo by Broadside Photography Editor Courtney Erland

Entering this anticipated basketball season with such high expectations, the plan was clearly to ride the backs of the two big men on campus. The two experienced seniors: Will Thomas and Folarin Campbell. Thomas, a member of the preseason first team all CAA, dominates opponents with scoring, rebounding,and relentless defense. Campbell, Second team All CAA, runs the show on offense both with his scoring and ball handling.

While these two stars have certainly lived up to all of the expectations, the team’s success might be coming from an unlikely hero.

At the start of the season, the average student wouldn’t know who John Vaughan was if he was walking around campus wearing a jersey with his name on it. It was unknown whether or not he would even be a starter; in fact, had Darryl Monroe not suffered an injury prior to the season, Vaughan probably would not have been in the starting five.

With the way Vaughan’s been playing so far this year, it’s safe to assume he is not losing any playing time soon.
After scoring 19 points against James Madison on Feb. 2, Vaughan now leads the entire CAA with a streak of 14 straight double digit scoring games. This remarkable consistency from Vaughan has significantly reduced the pressure on Thomas and Campbell to score all of the team’s points, which has led the Patriots to a 16-6 record and an undefeated home record of 11-0.

With Vaughan establishing himself as such a reliable scorer, the Patriots now have three main scoring options, which will be key to the team’s hopes of continued success.

However, as impressive as he’s been on offense, his most important contribution might be on the other end of the court.

Every game, Vaughan welcomes the challenge of guarding the opposing team’s top scorer, and he does it with success. Against JMU, it was no different when he shut down the Duke’s leading scorer, Abdulai Jalloh, who averages 15 points per game. Throughout the first 34 minutes of the game, Jalloh averaged a horrifying 15 percent shooting percentage from the field making only two shots out of his 13 attempts and scoring only eight points due to the airtight defense Vaughan applied to him. Once the victory was sealed and Vaughan went to the bench, it was as if someone un-strapped the ball and chain locked to Jalloh’s ankles, as he went 3-3 from the field scoring eight quick points with Vaughan on the sideline.

During the crucial game against first-place VCU, Vaughan was largely accredited with shutting down the CAA’s most highly coveted player, Eric Maynor. Maynor scored just 12 points along with committing 5 turnovers.

“Every game he wants to guard the opponents’ best player, I look up to him on defense,” said Folarin Campbell, in response to Vaughan’s critical contributions on the defensive end.

If you’re not familiar with the name John Vaughan by now, it’s time to take notice.

Even though he’s still a relatively unknown name to many, his success has not come out of the blue. After his freshman year, he was named to the CAA All-Rookie Team, showing promise as a young blossoming star. In the 2005-2006 season Vaughan suffered a major setback with a knee injury that forced him to miss the entire season. He was granted a medical redshirt, which gives him another year of eligibility making him a redshirt junior. In 2006-2007, Vaughan showed some of the skills that led him to the CAA All Rookie team, but he was never fully healthy.
He is now.

What was expected to be a dynamic duo, consisting of Will Thomas and Folarin Campbell, has now become a three-headed heroic. The kind of monster that gives opposing coaches nightmares with the thought of having to worry about three stars who can light you up at any time.

The emergence of Vaughan could be exactly what Mason needs to become a serious threat not only in the CAA, but quite possibly in the national picture.

Does anyone remember the last time Mason had three stars on their team?

If you can not remember, just go to the Patriot Center and look up to the ceiling, a certain banner from 2006 will be sure to remind you.