The way former Colorado standout Shaun Vandiver sees it, his little girl has grown up to become every bit the basketball talent he was.
That’s saying something because Shaun earned all-conference honors for the Buffaloes in 1990 and 1991 and became a first-round NBA draft choice. He once scored 37 points in a college game and proudly mentions how Wyoming senior Aubrey Van- diver almost matched that total Feb. 5 by dropping 35 on archrival Colorado State.
“I got to watch her do that on The Mtn. All I can say is, ‘Wow!’ ” said Shaun, in his first season as an assistant coach for the Boise State men’s team.
What really makes him beam is that Aubrey, a 5-foot-11 guard and forward, has improved dramatically each season. Coming off the bench, she averaged 6.1 points as a freshman and 10.6 as a sophomore. She moved into the starting lineup last season and blossomed to 14.5 points per game.
This year, she has been almost off the charts. For MWC games only, Vandiver tops the league in scoring (19.5) and is tied for third in rebounding (8.3).
An honor student, Vandiver would rather talk about her accomplishments in the context of the team, which is vying with BYU and TCU atop the MWC standings.
“In our motion offense, you’re going to get a lot of open shots if your teammates get you the ball,” she said. “That’s why I’ve been able to score more recently.”
Wyoming coach Joe Leger- ski said Aubrey deserves credit for constantly and consistently working on her game. “Aubrey is a competitor who drives herself to be good,” Legerski said. “She has such a desire to succeed. I remember when Shaun played. She has that same competitiveness.”
After signing Aubrey out of Laramie High (Shaun was an assistant for the Wyoming men’s squad), Legerski realized right away that she was mature beyond her years. That shouldn’t have come as a surprise. She spent much of her childhood attending international schools in Spain while Shaun played in the European pro league.
Then, as Shaun climbed the coaching ladder, Aubrey attended three high schools: Laramie High as a freshman and senior, Bowling Green (Ohio) High as a sophomore and Greeley West as a junior.
“It was hard to make friends moving around so much, so I spent a lot of time working on my basketball skills,” Aubrey recalled.
Aubrey is majoring in Spanish but of late has acquired the urge to obtain a master’s degree in engineering and is in the process of applying to graduate schools. She’d also like to give pro ball a try in Europe.
Shaun said one piece of advice he gave to Aubrey is that if her shots weren’t falling and things didn’t seem to go her way, “You have to be the hardest-working player on the floor and find other ways to be productive.”
Same could be said about life in general.
Milestone night?
There’s a chance that CU senior forward Brittany Spears and Oklahoma senior guard Danielle Robinson could both be within reach of 2,000 career points when the Buffaloes and Sooners meet Feb. 23 in Boulder.
CU has only one 2,000-point scorer: Lisa Van Goor (2,067 from 1980- 85). Oklahoma has four, led by Courtney Paris (2,729 from 2006-09).
Pioneer sharpshooters.
The University of Denver men’s team entered Saturday’s game with four of the top 3-point shooters in the Sun Belt Conference.
Throwing daggers were Travis Hallam (second, .471), Brian Stafford (fourth, .462), Chase Hallam (10th, .411) and Andrew Hooper (tied for 13th, .400).
Footnotes.
CU senior Cory Higgins owns three school records — starts (118 entering the weekend), free throws made (509) and minutes played (4,045). . . . Ex-DU star Nate Rohnert signed to play professionally in the Netherlands. . . . Air Force’s back-to-back road wins over TCU and Utah were the first for the AFA men since beating CSU and Wyoming on consecutive trips in 2007.
