Prospect Watch: Caldwell stands tall

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Chris Hansen, ESPN HoopGurlzAs a child, when Caldwell wasn't on the courts, she was hanging out on studio sets.

Talia Caldwell stands in the paint looking every inch of her listed 6 feet 4. Her shoulders are a perfect capstone to a strong post player's frame. She stands in the paint with her brow creased and her eyes full of intensity. She had just bodied up Monique Oliver and sent the 6-3 post to the deck at the Nike Regional Skills Academy in Santa Ana, Calif.

This very same kid can recite lines from Shakespeare, talk her teammates' ears off and light up a gym with her smile.

Caldwell's childhood has been anything but typical. Her father, Ravin Caldwell, grew up in Arkansas and played in the NFL for seven seasons (1987-1993), the first six with the Washington Redskins. The 6-foot-3, 229-pound former linebacker can be credited for Talia's great basketball frame at minimum.

On the other hand, mom's side of the family is from Lansing, Mich. Her mother, Teal Marchande has made acting a career and growing up in Los Angeles definitely gave Caldwell a different childhood. From 1996 to 2000 Marchande played Sheryl Rockmore in Nickelodeon's widely popular sit-com series, Kenan and Kel.

Caldwell got a taste of the Hollywood life, getting to be on the set of the tapings and becoming friends with cast members such as Kenan Thompson. Thompson is a regular on Saturday Night Live and is known for his titular role in the 2004 movie "Fat Albert." He's also starred in several other motion pictures such as "Snakes on a Plane" (2006), "Barber Shot 2: Back in Business" and "D3: The Mighty Ducks" (1996). When it comes to college recruiting you would think her shortlist would be littered with schools in southern California, but she's just not that Hollywood.

Arizona State, Baylor, California, George Washington, Harvard, Illinois, Notre Dame, USC and Vanderbilt comprise Caldwell's list of schools. She knows academically she wants to be in business, perhaps even international business, and the academic profile of the school is as important to her as the athletic prestige. She is looking for a place where both are very competitive.

Caldwell is not in a hurry to make a decision and plans on being very thorough in her process. She has a wide range of schools on her list and in USC and California she can maintain some of the Hollywood-L.A. culture. However, L.A. culture is by far the least important piece to her puzzle. She lights up when presented with the prospect of playing in college town without the lights, Louis (Vuitton) and luxury.

"It's cool to me," Caldwell said of a change in scenery. "I don't necessarily love L.A. I've always been interested in small towns."

Caldwell is eloquent and confident, but she has always dreaded public speaking. That fear of speaking in front of masses cannot be detected if you see her interact with people or even in a one-on-one interview but it also why she forced herself to take courses in theater and enter a Shakespeare contest.

In the basketball world you'd call that working on your weaknesses. You often see a player only practicing what they do well because it's easy. Caldwell applies the lessons in other parts of her life to the court. For someone most consider a post player, she will shock and awe people her ballhandling ability.

"I want to be able to do more and be more consistent with my left hand," Caldwell said, "Not just close to the basket though, maybe with a jump hook."

Caldwell knows the weaknesses in her game and knows what she has to do to improve on them. She embraced the opportunity to play in the Nike Regional Skills Academy earlier this month where shoe company politics easily could have gotten in the way.

"It was a great experience and I'm lucky to have been a part of it," Caldwell said. She also said she had the full support of her club team coaches despite their sponsorship by a rival company, adidas.

Caldwell handles the ball well and can do many of the advanced ballhandling moves you expect from your perimeter players. She can run the floor with many wings when she chooses to and can knock down the mid-range jumper both on high post feeds and in transition. Around the basket she has improved greatly in finishing with her right hand and is starting to show a lot better touch with her left as well. Her face-up game will allow her to play either the four or five in college. Defensively she has the body to hold position in the post without hand-checking or pushing and has the length to both the oppositions shot without fouling. She's a player that can impact the game without a bunch of isolation touches because she can pass the ball, rebound and defend so well. Let's not forget the importance of having a player that can set a knee-buckling screen which Caldwell is more than capable of.

This year with her club team, FBC, Caldwell has assumed a new role as Nikki Speed and Jasmine Dixon, the mainstays of that team the last few years, have moved on to their college hoop dreams. This has forced her to play every minute of the game at full tilt because she is one of the few upperclassmen on a young team.

Despite her dedication to athletics she has never been pressured by her family to fill her father's shoes as a professional athlete. The message he's always had for her is that there is a cost in anything you want to be great at.

"Do it, do it well, don't complain, it's your choice," Caldwell said of her dad's message.

"He would be okay if I quit playing," Caldwell said. "He would just ask if I was still in school and still going to college."

- Chris Hansen