Where Are They Now? – Greg Paulus

 Derek DeNote

It’s time for the annual “Where Are They Now?” article. And by, “It’s time for the annual ‘Where Are They Now?’ article,” I mean Matt (who’s now going by “The White Raven,” by the way) made me write an article since I haven’t in over a month. Let’s begin.

Greg Paulus

Columbus, Ohio

I actually just got off the phone with Greg the other night. He’s doing well and really likes working with Thad Matta at The Ohio State University, but he informed me that he never got his MVP trophy from the 2010 Duke team that won a National Championship. I know at this point you smartasses are probably saying, “But Derek! He wasn’t on that Duke team! He was actually at Syracuse playing quarterback and getting a graduate degree in Communications, which is proving to be useful seeing as he’s the video coordinator for tOSU!”

Quick, Greg! Point to your favorite OoOL post!

Let me take you through a series of simple questions at the conclusion of which you will say, “Goddamn! This kid’s crazy theory actually makes sense”. Okay here it goes…

Q: Could Duke have won a championship without Nolan Smith in 2010?

A: Not a chance in hell, his unbelievable play throughout the season played a pivotal role in their constant success.

Q: Why did Nolan Smith go to Duke?

A: Nolan’s dad, Derek Smith (all joking aside, who I am actually named after), was Johnny Dawkins when he played. Derek Smith tragically died on a cruise and Johnny Dawkins became a father figure for Nolan. Johnny Dawkins was an assistant coach at Duke when Nolan was recruited.

Q: What did Johnny Dawkins do in the middle of Nolan Smith’s career?

A: Leave Duke to become the head coach at Stanford.

Q: What did Nolan Smith want to do when this happened?

A: Leave Duke to follow Johnny to the west coast.

Q: What was Coach K’s response to the idea of Nolan Smith leaving?

A: Cried himself to sleep every night realizing this team that had potential to be a National Champion was going to lose one of their best players. (This may have been exaggerated slightly, but the essence of what happened is there.)

Q: How did Duke end keeping Nolan Smith?

A: Greg Paulus offered to come off of the bench and allow Nolan Smith to start, and there is no way in anyone’s right mind do they turn down starting for Duke to go to Stanford unless you’re promised to meet Lennay Kekua (too soon?). So, there is the simple way of how Greg Paulus was the MVP for the 2010 National Champion Duke Blue Devils.

Also, I assume by reading this entire article that you realize that this is in no way an actually “Where Are They Now” thing. If you actually want to find out where people are…type it into Google! Alternatively, if you want crazy explanations about people or just my opinions on them, Tweet their names to @ddenote9 and use #WhereAreTheyNow #OOoL …And to be clear, the hash tags don’t actually matter, but it’ll make me feel better about writing this blog.