WRAL Sports Fan

Duke

Duke's three seniors have different paths this season

By Jake Lloyd

Mar 2, 2009

Durham, N.C. — One has found his role this season. One has lost his role only to accept a lesser one. And one hasn’t had much of a role.

Those are the stories of Duke’s three seniors who will be honored Tuesday on Senior Night when the seventh-ranked Blue Devils (24-5, 10-4 ACC) host No. 24 Florida State (22-7, 9-5).

The senior seasons of David McClure, Greg Paulus and Martynas Pocius have been nothing short of unpredictable.

McClure was coming off an injury-plagued junior season that prevented him from finding a comfort zone in Duke’s rotation. Yet he has been one of the Devils’ most consistent players as a senior, a defense- and rebounding-oriented forward whom coach Mike Krzyzewski has counted on in big games.

Paulus started 95 of 103 games his first three seasons, including all but one last season. But when this season began, he was still rehabbing from a knee injury and found himself on the bench behind improving sophomore Nolan Smith.

When Smith hit a mid-season swoon, Paulus stepped back into his familiar starting role for a few games only to be replaced by current starter — freshman Elliot Williams.

And then there’s Pocius. The Lithuanian has one year of eligibility remaining because he received a medical redshirt last season after injuring his ankle. But he’s played very minimally this season, relegated to playing at the end of lopsided games.

So due to graduate this spring, Pocius will skip his final season of eligibility and return to play back home instead of at Duke.

None of the three has been a main reason for Duke’s success this season, but there have been small contributions. And with opportunities still to get Duke’s first win on Senior Night since 2004-05, win at least a share of the regular-season conference title and do big things in the postseason, the trio is hoping to paint some of their greatest memories in the coming days.

“It’s not over,” Paulus said. “With me being a senior, there are (going) to be times of how you want it to be left. But this season is just beginning for us and we have a great opportunity in front of us these next couple games and with the conference tournament and hopefully in March.

“That’s what I’m thinking about. Not thinking about it being over with.”

The ultimate role player

McClure might lack the green hair, multiple tattoos and countless bruises from diving into the stands, but Krzyzewski showed how much he thinks of his 6-foot-6, fifth-year senior about a month ago by calling him a Dennis Rodman-type player.

Krzyzewski mentioned how Rodman had a knack for gaining his team 20 to 25 possessions a game without scoring because of all the rebounds and loose balls he came up with. He then said that in Duke’s 78-75 overtime win over Miami on Feb. 7, McClure provided the Devils with 18 such possessions.

“That’s a lot of points,” Krzyzewski said what McClure’s plays created. “There's no stat for that that we all say he's the leader of this, he does this. (But) that’s what you need from winning teams.”

On Monday, McClure said that for the first time he feels a part of a complete team — a team on which he can do what he’s best at and not worry about anything else.

That’s why averaging just 1.9 points per game doesn’t bother him. He knows that Gerald Henderson, Kyle Singler and Jon Scheyer are much better scorers.

“I think one thing that has helped me is, I don’t ever feel like I have to prove myself doing anything that’s not what I’m good at,” McClure said. “I feel like I know what I’m good at and the coaches have helped me feel comfortable with that.”

McClure’s 13 rebounds against the Hurricanes proved just that.

The team guy

Paulus refuses to complain about his niche on the team. Despite starting just four games and logging a career-low 18.5 minutes per game, Paulus maintains that he’ll do anything for the Devils.

“It’s been a little different,” he said of the season. “But we’re playing really well right now and I came here to be a part of Duke, to be a part of this great tradition, to add to it. You come to this place to be a part of all those things, to be a part of something bigger than yourself.

“That’s what I wanted to do, I wanted to make a positive difference. … There’s been some ups, there’s been some downs — (things happening) in different directions that you didn’t think could happen that happened.”

To begin with, Paulus wasn’t in great shape during preseason practice because of his knee rehabilitation. Then in late November, he suffered a forearm contusion that caused him to miss his first career game.

But after Smith was benched following Duke’s embarrassing 74-47 loss at Clemson, Paulus started and ignited the Devils’ comeback win over the Hurricanes.

“He did that with us as a group going through a very adverse time,” Krzyzewski said.

Paulus, however, was back on the bench after two more losses that made it pretty clear he wasn’t Duke’s best option to start at point guard, and he is averaging just 5.6 points — less than half of last year’s 11.4 ppg.

But when he’s on the court, two things haven’t changed this season: He plays with a high energy level and reckless abandon, as was witnessed when he went flying onto press row during Duke’s loss to North Carolina on Feb. 11.

And he continues to be arguably the ACC’s most hated player in opposing teams’ arenas, always inciting taunts when he enters games.

Despite the reduced playing time and production, those two traits will forever be linked to Paulus.

The bench player

Back in October, Pocius felt good after Duke’s Blue-White scrimmage. The 6-5 guard was coming off a summer spent training with the Lithuanian national team and felt fully recovered from the ankle injury that cost him most of the 2007-08 season.

“It feels pretty exciting,” Pocius said after looking athletic on the court. “You know, I haven’t played basketball in a long time, it’s felt like forever. So I was really anxious at first, but it was good to be out there and play again.”

While Pocius said he has been in good health this season — with just a few ankle tweaks — he has failed to crack Duke’s playing rotation, having played in just 19 games and averaged 6.6 minutes in those contests.

The lack of court time might be a big reason why he has decided to pursue a playing career back in his native land after he graduates this spring with a degree in international comparative studies.

“Every basketball player, of course, wants to play as much as he can, wants to have as good a career as possible,” Pocius said on Monday. “But for me things went one way. Maybe if I wasn’t injured for a couple of seasons, it would have gone a different way.

“I’m just choosing to go back. … For me, I’ll try to play basketball for as long as I can. I know I’ll have a chance to do that (overseas). I know I’ll play.”