“Greg’s a phenomenal ping-pong player, but he’s still fourth best in the house,” Dave Paulus says. “I’m first, [brothers] David and Chris are second and third, and Greg’s fourth. That is one game where age has not caught up with me.”
While he may not be tops in table tennis, Greg Paulus has asserted his dominance on virtually every other field of play. Most college basketball fans know the parable of Paulus well. Before signing on to run the point for Head Coach Mike Krzyzewski and the Blue Devils, Paulus was an all-state quarterback at Christian Brothers Academy in Manlius, N.Y.
The 2005 Gatorade National Male Athlete of the Year spurned offers to perform his magic on the gridiron from Notre Dame and iami in order to lead the Blue Devils’ attack on the hardwood. Paulus’ decision to travel to Durham ended a long family legacy of Hilltop students and broke the hearts of Hoya hoopsters far and wide. Last season, when the all-ACC freshman found himself drowning in a sea of rabid Georgetown fans following the Hoyas 87-84 upset win, Paulus didn’t exactly receive a helping hand from older brothers David (MSB ’03), Matt (MSB ’04) and Daniel (MSB ’05).
“I was cheering last year in the Verizon Center,” David, who played both football and basketball for the Hoyas, says. “Me and all my Georgetown friends made sure he heard it from us after they lost. I rubbed it in.”
After a confession from current Hoya Chris, however, it seems as though the monumental match was a source of contention among the Paulus Georgetown brethren.
“You have to stay true to your brother,” Chris says, who has been a three-year starter at linebacker for the Hoya football team but remains steadfastly loyal to his younger sibling. “Last year I kept it quiet because the game was at Georgetown.”
After a baptism-by-fire first year of NCAA basketball, Greg is no longer the green freshman Hoya fans remember from that fateful day last January. As the first sophomore captain ever in the rich history of Duke basketball, Paulus is the unquestioned floor leader and an integral part of Coach K’s offensive scheme heading into Saturday’s anticipated rematch with the Hoyas at Cameron.
“He’s a terrific player, looking at the tapes,” Georgetown Head Coach John Thompson III says. “He’s a leader, and that shows up; they follow his lead.”
Paulus’ paranormal passing abilities and leadership talents are crucial to the Blue Devils’ and have been recognized from everyone from ESPN broadcaster Dick Vitale to his perennial ping-pong nemesis.
“If Greg doesn’t play well, that team isn’t going to play well,” David Paulus says, echoing Vitale’s views during Duke’s 54-51 win over Indiana Tuesday night. “It’s his ability to execute and lead that determine Duke’s success.”
Ever since arriving in Durham as the nation’s top point-guard prospect, fans have been comparing Paulus to past legendary Duke floor generals Bobby Hurley and Steve Wojciechowski. Those who know Paulus best credit his ceaseless resolve for all the no-look passes that harken images of Hurley and all the steadying guidance that screams Wojo.
“Greg has a great work ethic – he’s a hard worker on the court,” Dave Paulus says. “Most people don’t know that he’s always the first one there and the last one to leave.”
Both Dave and Chris claim that this steadfast determination, which also allowed Greg to play the tail end of the 2006 season with a broken wrist, was fostered in the competitive environment of the Paulus backyard. Dave remembers young Greg struggling to keep up with his older siblings in daylong athletic battles that raged on the football field in the fall and the asphalt in the spring. When it got too cold to tackle or dribble, Chris recalls, the boys headed to the basement for ping-pong matches that rivaled scenes from “Forrest Gump.” The long days of intense competition has produced a full roster of Division I athletes, headlined by Greg.
“We always played sports, whether it was in the backyard or in Division I, and he was always trying to raise his level of play to stay with us,” Dave remembers. “We were also always able to tell him what to expect when it comes to playing sports in college. I think that has helped him in the past two years.”
While all the Paulus brothers attacked athletics with unbridled zeal, Chris says Greg’s passion was always the most potent.
“He’s much more focused and determined athletically than we were,” Chris says – high praise, since Chris himself led the Hoyas in tackles in 2006. “Greg wants to do great and he’s not stopping until he gets there. We were cutting corners in workouts. He wasn’t.”
But there is more to the 6-foot-1 star than his rigid ritual of running, shooting, and weight lifting. All members of the Paulus family know a genuine and caring individual masked behind the focused face of Duke basketball. His father says that as vital as his son is to the team, Greg is far too humble to ever admit it. Chris remembers how his little brother wasn’t disappointed but overjoyed when he heard that Mike, the youngest of the Paulus brothers, had signed to play quarterback down the road for archrival North Carolina. Even before he became a household name prior to his 20th birthday, Greg has always been admired by all who know him.
“Every time I am with him, he is always signing autographs or playing with kids, and he goes and talks at elementary schools, too,” Dave explains. “That’s a tribute to our parents – they raised us to always have our heads screwed on straight.”
After blossoming under the watchful eye of Dave and Denise Paulus, Greg has embraced a close relationship with the architect of the Duke basketball dynasty. Krzyzewski has long been lauded as a hardwood genius, but many argue that his quick work in molding Paulus from an insecure 18-year-old into a seasoned veteran may be his masterpiece. Through a balanced formula of stringent discipline and fatherly guidance, family members say Paulus has become almost attached to his legendary coach.
“They have a very tight, close relationship – sometimes a little too tight,” Chris Paulus says with a laugh. “But I think Coach K has a deep sense of respect for Greg, and wants to see his best. Greg knows that, so if he is harder on him than the other players, it’s just tough love.”
Dave, whose idea of paddling his son has always had more to do with serves and volleys than discipline and punishment, is looking forward to Saturday’s showdown. He can’t wait to have all four of his Georgetown boys wedged beside him amongst the droves of Dukies singing his son’s praises. The hostile atmosphere at Cameron will be enough to dissuade Dave from donning the likeness of Jack the Bulldog, but he will never forget what Georgetown has meant to his family.
“Maybe I should root for Georgetown, since they could basically name the new wing of the business school for me with those four tuitions,” Dave, who hopes his daughter Sarah will consider taking her hoops skills to the Hilltop, says. “But I am for Duke in this one. I am so proud of Greg, and he is off to a good start this season. I think Duke wins on Saturday.”
Should Hoya fans grow weary of watching Greg Paulus run the floor, dish the rock and shoot the lights out with graceful ease on Saturday, they can seek solace in visions of the epic battles that will rage in the Paulus basement come Christmas Eve. It is there that the mighty Greg Paulus, the dual-sport phenomenon, the master of Duke’s domain, will be humbled by an old hand.