His Time To Shine

I'm sure many of you watched Duke beat the UNC Tar Heels, so I won't rehash it here. But I do want to take the time to profile one particular player: Greg Paulus. Paulus had a rough season last year, struggled to find his range, his game. He is a smaller player among freakish athletes, and when he wasn't performing well, he took a lot of flak. A whole lot. I'm sure it was hard for him and his family to hear people openly discuss how awful they thought he was.

I will admit that I was in the category of people who doubted Paulus and wondered how he had made his way to Duke. From all reports, he was a gifted QB so why would he come to a sport like basketball which seems to be such a struggle?

But the mark of a real winner, a hero, if you will, is not what happens when the going is good. It's how they rise up when everyone thinks they are defeated. Think about the movies. The greatest heroes overcome adversity when all looks lost. No guts, no glory, or so the saying goes.

Despite taking a beating from the public last year, in the last few games, Paulus has shown that Coach K was not crazy when he recruited him. He has the range (did you see where he was pulling from? He was taking whatever shot he wanted and they just dropped), he has heart, and even though he makes mistakes, he has shown that he can raise the level of his game to the elitest of the elite. Which one do I value most? Heart. You can teach someone how to shoot, but heart cannot be taught. And to be clear, heart is not celebrating like crazy when the other team makes a turnover in the first 10 minutes of the game. You know who you are.

Back to Pualus, to come back out here, still given a starting role on a squad that everyone thinks is way over your head, and now make the front page of ESPN.com (that's the pic above) because of your 6-8 shooting from the 3 point line against the Tar Heels. Not only that, but because this is one of the biggest rivalries among all sports, his performance will probably make the big game preview reels for years to come.

While there is no telling what the future holds for Paulus, I for one am happy to see the guy who people least expect rising to the challenge when everyone counted him out. That's two in one week: Eli Manning and now Paulus.

Who's got next?

My First Duke Game

Now that my pictures have arrived (thanks!), I can share with you the details of my first Duke game this past Saturday. This was an exhibition against Barton College - where no player is over 6'6". Not that it matters at all, but Duke won 105-44.

Freshman note: Kyle Singler (27 points on 10-12 shooting, 10 rebounds, 2 assists) is going to be VERY good. Great basketball IQ (i.e., he anticipates the plays, and makes the right ones), scrappy, and has a lot of heart. All of those intangibles that you just can't teach.

The point guard position will be interesting, but if they give Nolan Smith a start, this kid shows a lot of promise. He finished with 18 points. I predict that he'll get some good minutes in place of Greg Paulus. Since this was an exhibition game, they weren't really running too many plays, but it looks like there will be a lot more fast break points with Singler and sophomore Gerald Henderson. Henderson added 16 points and 7 boards to the total.

I won't re-hash the preview I gave prior to my visit, but suffice it to say that this team definitely will be faster than last year, and shouldn't have a problem making up for the void left by Josh McRoberts.

Enjoy the pics. And thank you to my "photographer" who let me borrow the camera to snap a few myself!

Coach K

The Duke bench, at the time the picture was taken anyway.

Battling (not sure who that is, just know it's not Pocius - #5).

DeMarcus Nelson at the free throw line. He spent a lot of time there, which means he's driving to the hole, which is always a good thing (unless you're playing Duke).

College Basketball Preview #1: Duke Blue Devils

Love them or hate them, for the vast majority of the nearly thirty years that Coach Krzyzewski (pronounced Shuh-shef-ski) - or simply Coach K -- has been head coach of the Duke University basketball program, Duke basketball has been one of the premier programs in college basketball.

The team took its knocks last season, however, while they struggled to find their groove, but being a Coach K team, you just couldn't count them out completely. Ultimately, To the glee of Duke haters the world over, they were upset in the first round of the NCAA tournament by Virginia Commonwealth University. If you're not familiar with VCU, then that should give you some indication of the level of the upset.

Well, it seems that they did a little work over the summer to make sure that history does not repeat itself.

Saturday night, Duke hosted its annual Blue-White scrimmage at Cameron Indoor Stadium, the first chance for the fan(atics) to see the team play each other. Blue topped the White, 69-64, and the youngsters stole the show. Freshmen Kyle Singler, one of the top five prospects in the nation, Nolan Smith, and Taylor King, looked very good on the offensive end as they combined for 61 points during their debut.

Also quite impressive during this outing was sophomore Gerald Henderson, who put up 21 points (including 3 for 3 from the three-point line), 7 boards, and 4 assists for the winning Blue team. Said the DukeBasketballReport.com:

Perhaps the most improved player from last year is Gerald Henderson, who moved like a big cat, moving along like everyone else, then suddenly accelerating or elevating, then striking. He had one stunning blocked shot, quite a few aerial maneuvers, but, unlike last season, he was always, always, under control. There was concern last year that he wasn’t grasping the system as quickly as he might have and that he tended to improvise when it wasn’t such a great idea. That’s over. Henderson was superb in every aspect.

Sounds like it's going to be a very interesting year for the Duke squad. Talented freshmen, and experienced upperclassmen who still have a bitter taste in their mouths from that loss at VCU. Never underestimate a team that expects to win.

I may be headed to Duke on Saturday for an exhibition game, and my first ever Duke game, so I will keep you posted!

Next preview: UNC

He'll Teach You How To Shoot. But Winning Games ? You're On Your Own

I have to hand it to whoever was in charge of promoting the heck out of J.J. Reddick, arguably one of the most overrated players in all of college basketball. This guy was like the golden child while he was at Duke. If I Google his name and some other famous white basketball player (i.e. Larry Bird), I'm sure I will find some 0ff-comparison. Yup, I did (I like The Onion's take on this the most).

Not to take anything away from J.J., as he was certainly one heck of a shooter in college, but his promotions team was working overtime when he played at Duke. The way the commentators spoke about him (including our beloved Dickie V), you'd think he was leading people to the Promised Land between games.

Yet, when it was time for J.J. to leave and head to the NBA, those cheerleaders all but disappeared. For example, you probably didn't know that he plays for the Atlanta Hawks Orlando Magic and hasn't really been heard from since he played his last Duke game, except for that little DWI he got right before the draft.

That is, until today. While watching TV just now, I saw a commercial for Better Shooting 2, an instructional video featuring - you guessed it - J.J. Redick. I didn't know I missed Better Shooting 1. It must be because J.J. wasn't in it. According to the website, this video will teach you how to shoot like the "best shooter in college hoops history." (At least the page for this particular video qualifies that with a "perhaps the best shooter . . .").

So it looks like the Redick marketing machine has wisely figured out a way to extend the J.J. brand further than his NBA career. Because if you can't be a successful NBA player, at least you can teach other people to shoot like you so they can possibly be a successful NBA player. What a great guy.

Shocker: Duke Has A Football Team

I heard about this and then it went out the other ear. I suppose if I write a blog I should care about every piece of sports news I hear (that means I don't care about NASCAR). It should have stuck me because I knew a guy who played football at Duke and I don't think they won a game the entire time he played.

The Duke University football team (no, seriously, they have a team) won its first football game in its last 22 times on the field, defeating former powerhouse Northwestern University, 20-14. Another awesome loss for the Big Ten. I'm frankly surprised that players continue to play here every year. Perhaps it's just a way to go to school for free and bide one's time while you're in college. It must be really hard when people wait in line for hours to touch the hem on the gym shorts of any Duke basketball player, but when your own classmates admit they were ashamed to wear Duke Football t-shirts on campus, that can't be good for the ego.

This article about the win captured much hilarity. Among my favorite bits:

"It was a great win, but it was one football game, and we have to put that in the proper perspective," [Coach Ted] Roof said.

Um, Coach Roof, I know you're a football coach and you have to keep your team motivated and all, but the perspective is your team stunk, and may continue to stink despite this one game, so you better live it up, my man. If the kids are going to let one win in two seasons go to their heads (the team is still 1-2), you have a lot more problems than improper perspective.

These kids actually removed a goal post, which has to be a first:

Team officials said replacing the goal post would cost about $5,000, but workers in the school's maintenance department said they were reassembling it after several pieces of the uprights and crossbar had been returned.

"It was really nice to see it missing when we came back," left tackle Cameron Goldberg said.

They actually brought back pieces of the goalpost? What kind of college kids are these? As if Duke couldn't afford to buy a new goalpost. That's it. They don't deserve to win any more games. But they did try to frame the chapel with them after they tore them down. Go Duke.