If you turned on the Duke-Purdue game last night in the second half, you probably saw a familiar situation. Greg Paulus was running the point, getting the ball to Kyle Singler and Jon Scheyer, the team's playmakers. When he wasn't doing that, Paulus was knocking down some jumpers, and finished with a respectable seven points in 22 minutes.
What you didn't catch is Paulus holding down the bench as the starters took the Mackey Arena floor to start the game. Sophomore Nolan Smith has taken the reigns at point guard for Mike Krzyzewski while Paulus, the face of Duke basketball, and a three-year starter, is coming off the bench to contribute.
If you don't know Paulus' story you don't really know what a freak this guy was. A high school product out of Syracuse, N.Y., Paulus was a star athlete in both basketball and football -- and when I say star, I mean, like, four stars. He was a specimen, a quarterback that could have picked just about any big-time football program over Duke basketball and been throwing passes before anyone realized what he'd done.
As as senior at Christian Brothers Academy, Paulus lead his football team to its first Class AA state title, a perfect 13-0 record and was named the Gatorade National Football Player of the Year, an award shared with the likes of Peyton Manning and Emmitt Smith. In his junior year, Paulus tossed 29 touchdowns, and then threw for 43 touchdowns as a senior.
Scout.com had Paulus ranked ninth at the quarterback position, ahead of Texas' Colt McCoy, Hawaii's former star QB Colt Brennan and Missouri's Chase Daniel.
Now Paulus is riding the bench in basketball, mostly for his defensive liabilities that caused the Blue Devils to be exposed around the perimeter during the last two NCAA Tournaments. Paulus isn't going to play in the NBA. In fact, he'd probably be lucky to play in Europe. So was Duke the right decision? Nobody will ever know. Rankings for high school are what you make of them. Sometimes they are spot on, sometimes they miss by a mile.
But one thing is for sure -- being a quarterback for any big university around the nation has to be better than sixth man for Duke. Not Even Coach K could convince me otherwise.
Comments (Page 1 of 1)
It must feel strange for Paulus, go come off the bench. But for now, Duke is much better with Nolan Smith at the point. He's scoring and dishing assists on one end, and is a lock-down defender at the other. To have Greg come in, give leadership and knock down a big "three" here and there is a luxury for Coach K.
The Devils got a huge one last nite at Purdue, against a quality team and 14,000 fans who wanted to whip their butts. With a little luck and no injuries, this team could go deep into the Tournament next March ... we shall see !
Maybe so, but the kid will be a Duke graduate. As well as having experienced Coach K as a mentor. Those two things alone will give him pretty good odds that he will be a successful adult. I'd say he's going somewhere in his life. God Bless him.
When Paulus is making more than a million a year coaching a big time college basketball program, will you admit that he made the right decision?
Here are Duke's starting PGs during the K era:
Johnny Dawkins
Tommy Amaker
Quin Snyder
Bobby Hurley
Jeff Capel
Steve Wojciechowski
Jason Williams
Chris Duhon
Greg Paulus
How is being a quarterback for any big university around the nation a better path to success in life than being on this list?
Not a Duke fan, nor do I care about Paulus, but Shane, you're right about being a top recruit out of HS, it's hard to tell what will happen. I mean, look at Jimmy Clausen at Notre Dame...wasn't he THE top QB recruit a few years back? So much for that.
Too many confounding factors that play into the "what ifs" and "woulda, coulda, shoulda" game...
Paulus is too short to be a QB in the NFL, just as he has limitations, including being too short, for basketball in the NBA.
He wants to be a coach and he is now well positioned to become one. What better position could he be in than having a degree from Duke and having been a point guard for Coach MIke K?