Paulus isn't alone

Big, athletic family primed Duke star

BUFFALO, N.Y. -- All you really need to know about Greg Paulus comes wrapped into one neat, two-layered factoid.

He spent most of his childhood in Manlius, N.Y., with five brothers and a sister.

And none of them is all that impressed that their 20-year-old brother plays the glamour position (point guard) at the big-time program (Duke) for the power coach (Mike Krzyzewski).

They are proud, though, so Paulus' brothers Matt and Mike, baby sister Sarah and parents Dave and Denise will make the three-hour drive from their Syracuse-area home to Buffalo today.

Along with another 40 or so other family and friends, they're coming to see sixth-seeded Duke play No. 11 Virginia Commonwealth in a West Regional first-round game of the NCAA Tournament at 7:10 tonight.

"It's exciting for me, but I'm trying not to get distracted," Paulus said. "And they've been great telling me to concentrate on what I'm doing. They understand this is a one-shot deal with our team."

The Paulus siblings are all too familiar with what brother Greg is experiencing now as starter and team co-captain for the Devils.

Paulus, the fifth of six boys, was a McDonald's All-American in basketball and won the Gatorade national football player of the year award as a senior at Christian Brothers Academy in Syracuse. Older brothers David, Matt, Dan and Chris played football at Georgetown.

The Paulus clan grew up with ready-made teammates -- and good ones at that.

"If you got knocked down, someone would step on you," Paulus said. "Like with me being one of the youngest, if I called a foul, the older ones would just say, 'That's not a foul. When you get older, you can get that call.' ... We all thought we were the best at everything. Or so we thought. You'd never admit it if you weren't."

That question is open to debate. Not only did the first five play collegiate sports, but youngest son Mike is rated among the nation's top five high school quarterbacks and will play for Butch Davis at North Carolina. And Sarah, a high school junior, is receiving scholarship offers to play college basketball.

Even Kelly Paulus, wife of eldest son David Paulus, has sports in her blood. The former Kelly Haden, daughter of former Southern California football great Pat Haden, played soccer at Georgetown.

Obviously, playing under pressure against older, bigger brothers molded Paulus as an athlete. Dave Paulus, their father, pressed that further by making his kids play one or two years older than their age level in recreational leagues and on AAU teams.

"It wasn't as critical when they were really young," Dave Paulus said. "But in some cases they were so far advanced, it wasn't doing anyone any good to have them play with kids their age. ... Having older brothers just made it easier for the younger guys when they came along."

By the time it was Greg's turn, he was playing three or four years older than his age group.

"You may be the smallest and skinniest, but you have to learn to get your shot off, to protect the ball, to learn to rebound and stop somebody," Greg Paulus said. "That's where you learn the tricks of the trade."

So Paulus played on the fifth-grade basketball team as a first- grader and for the varsity team as an eighth-grader. Dave Paulus said Greg never shied away, never complained.

"It's funny; Greg loved it," Dave Paulus said. "He was a natural from the beginning."

In the second grade, Paulus was playing in a local rec league title game with older brothers Dan and Chris when, with 1.5 seconds left and the Paulus team down one point, Greg took the last shot.