I've been watching the second half of the Syracuse - Minnesota game, and have come to a very unsettling conclusion. I'm kind of, sort of, possibly, rooting for Greg Paulus. And this gives me pause.
I hate Duke. I will always hate Duke, for it is ingrained into my psyche and comes as naturally as breathing. And as such, I hate the folks currently in Duke uniforms, and continue to hate most of them for long after they leave Duke. But this varies from player to player, based mostly on their level of talent, the amount of hype heaped upon them beyond what that talent deserves, and their particular behavior in general. So I'm still going to hate J.J. Redick, but at this point am mostly neutral towards Grant Hill. And then there's players like Brian Zoubek, where even the hate gives way to mostly amusement when he takes the court. So there is a gradient of hate.
Now Paulus was the subject of plenty of overhype at Duke, and that hasn't changed since arriving at Syracuse. I swear he's getting more camera time than Donovan McNabb was in college. But that's ESPN trying to make something of a boring game, and the hype of two B-list ESPN announcers is nothing on hearing Dick Vitale wax rhapsodic. Today, Paulus is just another college quarterback, trying to hit receivers that can't really catch on a middling-to-poor BCS team. Why not rot for the guy? If nothing else, it shows how destructive Krzyzewski can be, and further verify Roy Williams' eye for talent. After all, he's the one who said Paulus would be a better football player than a basketball player.
I reserve the right to change my mind once October comes and Vitale starts bringing him up again. And I still get too much pleasure at seeing him get sacked. And the captain thing is a little ridiculous. But right now, I'm rooting for Roy to be right. And I can live with that.