What is up with Kia Vaughn?

I have had a chance to catch a few women's college games this weekend to watch some of the senior prospects, and also have taken advantage of DirecTV's Video On Demand (VOD) to watch highlights from Big Ten games.

The prospect I was most impressed with having finally seen a little of her game was Lindsay Wisdom-Hylton from Purdue. In a loss to Notre Dame, she displayed a versatile game for a player listed as a PF. She is only 6'2", but she displayed an strong inside-outside flair and some aggressive rebounding at both ends of the floor. She put up 18 points, 10 rebounds, 2 blocks, 3 assists and a steal in the game. In the loss to Maryland she had 20 points, 9 rebounds, 3 blocks, 3 assists and 4 steals. She shot 50% from three point range and 47% overall. She can shoot from three, midrange, has a soft touch around the basket and has a back to the basket game down low. She reminded me of a more athletic version of Camille Little. She is #21 on my overall prospect list for the season.

I caught the Iowa vs. Iowa State game as well, and was sorely disappointed. Of the three prospects I am tracking, only Heather Ezell from Iowa State had any impact on the game. Star center Megan Skouby was in foul trouble from the start, missed all five of her shot attempts and had a single rebound. Guard Kristi Smith put up OK numbers, but was not particularly impressive. The players of the game for me were junior JoAnn Hamlin from Iowa and Aussie junior Alison Lacey for Iowa State.

Finally, yesterday I watched Rutgers beat Georgia. Kia Vaughn looked terrible out there and it was only made worse by Doris Burke constantly talking about how Kia was one of the most physically gifted players in women's basketball. Vaughn is currently coming of the bench after a number of poor starts for Coach Stringer, but she did nothing to get herself out of the doghouse in this game. A player this "gifted" shouldn't be stuck in the bottom half of my top 100 senior prospects. She started the year in the 30's and has fallen every week since. If she continues her current play she will be in my bottom third before long.

Epiphany Prince is a dynamic scorer, but she is clearly holding back in the Rutgers system. Offense was absent from this game for either team until Rutgers scored some easy transition buckets off their stifling defense. This game was far too close until the final eight minutes or so.

I have a few more games set to record this week.