#3 Deonta Vaughn (Point Guard 2006-2009)
Former Cats’ guard Deonta Vaughn is tied at the hip with Mick Cronin for the fact they both stepped on campus together from day one. Vaughn and Cronin were charged with the task of stopping the bleeding, to begin the restoration process of a once proud program which had fallen on hard times. The 6’1″, 190 pound guard and Indianapolis native originally had committed to play college basketball for the Indiana Hoosiers. Vaughn had a change of heart after attending prep school for a year at the now defunct Harmony Prep in Cincinnati, Ohio and instead signed with Mick Cronin enrolling at UC prior to the 2006-07 season.
The program was in full rebuilding mode during Vaughn’s first three years, and the team found itself mostly outgunned on a nightly basis while facing the top notch competition found in the original version of the Big East Conference. Vaughn still was often the only bright spot/stabilizing force on the court, finishing his UC career as the school’s all-time leader in assist (511). Also quietly while not many outside of campus noticed, his 1,885 points left him third all-time in school history behind only Oscar Robertson and Steve Logan.
What impressed me the most about Deonta Vaughn was his unselfishness, which more than ever was on display during his senior year in 2009-10. By that time the Cats’ finally had some reinforcements around him, such as power forward Yancy Gates and freshman sensation Lance Stephenson. Vaughn gladly sacrificed his game to a degree during his final season, to set the table for the future allowing the guys who would ascend after he left to be more involved. After graduation he never received the opportunity to play in the NBA, however has enjoyed a very successful career overseas. Vaughn has played in Poland, Ukraine, Georgia, Hungary, France, and Cyprus. He most recently played for the Polpharma Starogard Gdanski of the Polish Basketball League during the 2019-20 season. Without Vaughn’s courage and leadership to join the UC program while it was at rock bottom, who knows how much longer it would have taken Cronin to finally get the Cats’ trending upward again.
