Shame this one isn’t at West Virginia. Greg Paulus could try the shoe-on-the-other-foot thing, and maybe even in front of Cam Thoroughman.
The last time Paulus took on West Virginia, he was one of the blue blooded elites (re: the point guard of a Duke team that counted eight McDonalds All-Americans on its roster). West Virginia was an aspirant, led by a first-year head coach who happened to also be an alum.
The NCAA Tournament bracket pit Duke and West Virginia in a second-round match-up in Washington, DC, the Blue Devils went up five at the half and then West Virginia pulled out a stifling, life-taking man-to-man defense.
Duke missed 15 straight threes, tiny reserve guard Joe Mazzulla gave Duke’s backcourt fits and the ostensibly no-named, low-regarded Mountaineers upset Duke, 73-67.
“I do remember that well,” Paulus said today, speaking on the weekly teleconference that’s part of the duties of his new gig, as Syracuse’s starting quarterback.
Paulus recapped the game that ended his junior basketball season, he wouldn’t be baited into calling West Virginia’s celebration uncouth (“They definitely celebrated” was all he’d offer) and he made only a benign transferral, saying “playing in all those big games, I think that has helped.”
Yes, but now, look at what this match-up is. Paulus is the underdog Joe Alexander was for West Virginia: Alexander barely played as a high school senior at Hargrave Military Academy, Paulus hasn’t played football in the four years before this one. Doug Marrone is in his first year at his alma mater, just as Bob Huggins was in Morgantown two years ago. West Virginia has definitely recently been the Big East’s fancy recruit-filled elite. (I’m not going to force the blue blood tag. I’ve been to Morgantown.) Syracuse hasn’t had many recognizable names on its locker stalls in the last few years.
If Paulus needs any sort of reminder of the power in all that, he can just pull up this old game story. It’s the one where Thoroughman, a 6-foot-7, 235-pound reserve forward heard about the eight All-Americans and asked if Paulus was one of them. And when told yes, he said, “Oh my God, are you kidding?”
So what’s Paulus these days? Blue blood or blue collar?
Ed note: Cam Thoroughman is no shrinking violet. Here he is decking one of Paulus’ old teammates. I’d wager he’s probably one of Puskar Stadium’s better hecklers.
Aditi Kinkhabwala has written a regular column for SI.com and been published in Sports Illustrated.
Although Paulis is fun to watch, he really is nothing more than a bridge to next season for the Orange. Even a kid as talented as Paulis and a strong leader like Paulis cannot become a serious Division 1 QB in one year. If he was a freshman we could say he is young and will get better with experience. Unfortunately we only have one year with him. So look at Paulis for what he is–a bridge to the future. For the first time in almost a decade Syracuse fans are starting to get excited about the future of their program. I know I am.