This weekend, Duke welcomes Niagara, coached by former Blue Devil Greg Paulus, and Howard, by former Blue Devil Kenny Blakeney, to Cameron.
Niagara is up first, on Friday.
Paulus took over at Niagara when his boss, Patrick Beilein, resigned before ever coaching a game. He said this at the time: “It is with heavy regret that I must inform the entire Purple Eagle nation that effective today I have resigned my position as the head men’s basketball coach at Niagara University. It has been a lifelong dream of mine to become a Division-I head basketball coach, but unfortunately, that dream must be put on hold. Personal reasons I can no longer take lightly have led me to step away from my dream job. Going forward, I must give singular focus to dealing with these issues, so that I can become the man that I strive to be. In time, it is my hope that I can be more open about my ongoing circumstances, but in the meantime, I thank you all for respecting my family’s need for privacy and for all of your continued support.”
It was widely believed that Beilein was dealing with a substance abuse issue.
Lost opportunity for him but a nice chance for Paulus. How’s he done?
Well, depends on how you define it. If you just focus on wins and losses, not that great. Paulus has been at Niagara since the 2019-20 season and he’s only been over .500 once, at 16-15 in 2022-23.
However, he took over with the Covid pandemic looming in his first year and in his second, Niagara only played 20 games, finishing 9-11.
In the last few years, the changes roiling the sport have hit and schools like Niagara, which once produced legendary figures like Calvin Murphy, Larry Costello and Hubie Brown, are finding it harder to remain competitive. Niagara also plays in the MAAC, which is a one-bid league. And now, if a coach like Paulus finds an undiscovered gem of a sleeper, odds are he’ll end up at a bigger school in a year, getting paid far more than Niagara can afford to pay to keep him.
Things have just changed and it’s hard to measure success in the traditional W/L metric.
Last spring for instance, five players left after just one year. It’s a tough environment when you’re not in a power conference. Niagara has lost about 36 players to the portal since 2018. Continuity is impossible in this environment.
So what does Paulus have now? Well, he didn’t return a single scholarship player from last year and not surprisingly, he has 10 transfers and a freshman.
The Purple Eagles are 2-2 so far. Niagara lost to Duquesne by 20 and LeMoyne by 6. Paulus’s bunch beat Binghamton by 8 and Delaware State by 11.
Paulus has generally used a nine-man rotation so far. Junior Justin Page (6-5) is leading in minutes and points, playing 31.8 mpg and averaging 13.8 points per outing.
Reggie Prudhomme, a 6-0 senior, averages 9.3 ppg, 5.3 rebounds and 2.5 assists.
Justin Hawkins, a 6-7 senior, gets 8.8 points and 5 rpg.
Josiah Sabino is a 6-4 junior. He’s adding 5.8 ppg, 3.8 boards and 1.3 apg.
Trenton Walters, a 5-9 junior, is the only other player scoring in double figures. He’s getting 10.3 ppg.
The other guys in the rotation are Vice (yes, that’s correct) Zanki, a 6-8 senior from Croatia, Will Shortt, a 6-8 sophomore from Australia, and Brian Griffith, a 5-10 junior.
It’s a bit hard to find much about Niagara, but we know this about Paulus: he’s a resilient guy who learned many lessons at Duke. As we understand it, while at Duke he learned to focus on communication, leadership and accountability.
Paulus focuses on defense and personal growth from his team and players. This will all sound familiar to Duke fans of course.
Niagara will have its hands full as Paulus matches wits and talent with his old Duke backcourt mate, Jon Scheyer, who unquestionably has more talent to work with.
As we saw against Kansas, Scheyer has options. Cameron Boozer is the biggest talent, but he’s not the only one. Isaiah Evans has vastly improved, Dame Sarr is getting better fast, Caleb Foster is playing with hard-won maturity and Cayden Boozer is coming on fast.
Then there’s Unique Maliq Brown, Darren Harris and Nik Khamenia any of whom would likely be a star at Niagara.
All that said, as Paulus well knows, if a team works hard and sticks together, it can exceed expectations.
A win in Cameron by Niagara would be shocking, but it’s never impossible. That said, the best that the Purple Eagles can probably hope for is to exceed expectations and keep the game relatively close. Given the sweeping changes in the game and the different level of talents between the schools, that would be a significant accomplishment.
An instant legend if they pull that off.
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