The success of Greg Paulus’s basketball career is up for debate in the Duke community. Basically, there are two sides to the story. Some Blue Devil fans feel that Paulus was a rock solid ball player, strong leader, and the ultimate team guy – a player of true character. On the other hand some fans see Paulus as somewhat of a bust, a kid who simply did not live up to expectations. Now that Greg will be playing football at Syracuse, many fans have gone as far as to suggest that Paulus should never have given basketball a try. So the question is which side is right?
To answer this question one should know the background story of Greg Paulus. In 2005, Paulus entered the home of the Cameron Crazies as the top rated point guard of his class. His official ranking was 11th overall by Rivals.com and 18th overall by Scout.com. Given the high rankings, it is not surprising that high expectations were bestowed upon Paulus.
In his freshman season Paulus averaged 6.7 points, 5.2 assists, and 2.8 rebounds. His freshman assist total was good enough for 3rd all time among Duke freshman, behind only Duke greats Bobby Hurley and Jay Williams. This strong showing lead many fans and analysts to proclaim that Paulus was the next great “prototypical” Duke point guard, that is a strong leader and ball handler that would likely stay at Duke for 3-4 years. Paulus continued to show signs of success in his sophomore year despite battling injuries throughout the season. Greg increased his scoring average to 11.8 ppg and shot what would turn out to be a career high 46% from the field. Unfortunately for Paulus, during his junior season some problems began to arise. While Paulus remained a scoring threat and solid playmaker for the Blue Devils he was exposed as a defensive liability on the court. Although he was no longer injured, Paulus simply could not keep with many of the more athletic guards in the NCAA, this was especially evident against players such as Ty Lawson of cross-town rival UNC and Toney Douglas of Florida State. These defensive difficulties lead to Paulus losing his starting role as a senior and seeing greatly reduced playing time. In his new role off the bench, Greg never seemed truly comfortable and he ended up averaging career lows in many statistical categories.
Looking back it would be easy to say that Paulus was not the top PG in his class. After all the 2005 class also featured Mario Chalmers, Darren Collison, Dominic James, and Chris Douglas-Roberts. However, everyone knows that hindsight is 20-20. Truly, it seems that Greg Paulus did not quite live up to the lofty expectations placed on him when he entered the world of Duke basketball. However, Greg Paulus is a true class act. He played the game with passion and always gave 100% on the court. He led or helped lead Duke to many victories during his tenure, including a memorable performance against UNC during his junior year. Additionally, Paulus completely accepted his greatly reduced role during his senior year. This would not be an easy fact of life for anyone to accept, however we never once heard a complaint out of Greg Paulus. In terms of pure basketball skills Paulus was a little weak defensively. However, there is no denying that Greg was a strong playmaker, great 3-point shooter, and an excellent ball-handler.
Given these facts it is hard to label Greg Paulus a bust. The word bust should generally be reserved for athletes that absolutely do not work out, such as Ryan Leaf, Kwame Brown, and Darko Milicic. The college career of Greg Paulus resembled nothing even close to the pro failures of the players mentioned above. Paulus will likely never be a basketball superstar, and this is why he is now chasing a pro football career. There is nothing wrong with this decision so let’s save the word bust for those who deserve it. Thanks for playing your heart out at Duke Greg.
Posted by DBJ 
Duke Basketball Journal 