From bench, Paulus maintains focus

DURHAM -- If spending the first five minutes of his senior season watching from the bench wasn't the way Greg Paulus wanted it, he wasn't letting on Monday night.

Paulus arrived at Duke three years ago as one of the most highly touted point guards in the nation, a McDonald's All American, and had started all but eight games since then. But when the starters were announced before Monday's 80-49 win over Presbyterian, sophomore Nolan Smith's name was called to start the basketball season. Paulus' was not.

If Paulus is hurting, he won't entertain the thought. He even proposed, after Monday's game, that he didn't mind watching for a few minutes to get the feel of the game.

"My job when I get on the floor is the same," Paulus said. "What I do, and what my teammates expect me to do, nothing's changed: Put pressure on the ball, run the offense, get us into something, make sure that I'm trying to do what Coach is asking."

Amid all the talk about Gerald Henderson's potential for a dominant season and Kyle Singler's weight gain -- it shows in his shoulders -- and Duke coach Mike Krzyzewski's decision to name three captains a year after he decided having more than one didn't work, Paulus has been, to a certain degree, the forgotten man.

A certain line of Paulus-bashing has become fashionable: He isn't quick enough, disruptive enough, to defend ACC point guards. Implicit in that popular criticism is that Paulus' alleged deficiencies have contributed, in some way, to the fact that Duke hasn't been to the Final Four during Paulus' career.

Yet Paulus is merely a 1,000-point scorer, arguably Duke's best outside shooter, who averaged more than three assists per game last season and had twice as many assists as turnovers. It may not be the resume Duke fans were expecting him to build, but it's a pretty good one.

Either way, Krzyzewski's decision to start Smith is an indication he feels the team is best served with Smith's defense over Paulus' offense, and that leaves Paulus coming off the bench.

When he did get into the game Monday, he played extensively, forced up a few long 3-pointers and made one pass to Singler on the baseline that had assistant coach Chris Collins bouncing off the bench to greet him as Paulus returned for a TV timeout.

And while Paulus may not be starting, he's still going to play --as the point guard, as the shooting guard with Smith on the court and part of a three-guard set with Smith and Jon Scheyer. He played 22 minutes Monday, one more than Smith, with five points and a team-high four steals.

"I try to make the best out of every situation," Paulus said. "It's a blessing to get a chance to play for Duke. Whether it's coming off the bench or starting or whenever coach decides to put me in the game, I have to be ready and do my job."

It has been an odd fall for the Paulus family. Younger brother Mike was briefly the starting quarterback at North Carolina after T.J. Yates got hurt, only to be supplanted by Cameron Sexton. Now Greg has lost his starting position as well.

Paulus has handled the situation with grace and class. Still, for a senior captain -- Paulus shares the job with two juniors, Henderson and Scheyer -- to be excluded from the starting lineup is rare anywhere, and all but unheard of at Duke.

Perhaps that explains the applause when Paulus entered the game after watching for five minutes and when he returned to the bench for the first time, applause that came from the adults and season-ticket holders in the upper stands, the ones rarely seen on TV.

One season-ticket holder above the Duke bench held up a "We [heart] Paulus" sign. Whether in sympathy or support, Duke's [relatively] silent majority made it clear Monday how it feels about Paulus, starter or not.