Notebook: Duke hopes recruit's football days over

Two decades after a recruit tore the North Carolina coaching family asunder, speculation is mounting about the same sort of thing happening to Duke.

Caoch K will have to sway his No. 1 recruit to play basketball over football.(AP)

Back then, the player was Danny Manning of Greensboro, N.C. All signs pointed to him going to North Carolina to play for Dean Smith until Kansas' Larry Brown nabbed Manning after hiring his father -- a truck driver -- as an assistant coach. Brown had played and coached for Smith at North Carolina.

Smith and Brown are fine now, and have been OK for years, but there are some UNC fans who still haven't forgiven Brown for "stealing" a recruit from his mentor.

Duke fans love telling that story. Depending on how it ends, they might not enjoy telling the story of Greg Paulus as much.

Paulus is a 6-foot-2 point guard from Syracuse, N.Y., who has given a verbal commitment to play for Duke and coach Mike Krzyzewski. Paulus' decision came down to Duke or Notre Dame, coached by former Krzyzewski assistant Mike Brey.

If the story ends there, the story ends just fine. Given the high level of academics and basketball at their schools, Krzyzewski and Brey are going to compete for recruits all the time. No big deal.

But this story won't end until Paulus signs with Duke, which he could do as soon as Nov. 10, the first day of the week-long November signing period.

The issue here is football.

Paulus is considered one of the top five point guards in the country, but he's considered the No. 1 quarterback. Imagine that: The No. 1 high school quarterback in the country not playing college football.

That's probably the way it would have to be at Duke. Paulus told SportsLine.com earlier this summer that his commitment to Duke is for basketball only, and that Krzyzewski has made clear his preference that Paulus not attempt to play football if he comes to Duke.

If Paulus decides he wants to play college football, and wants to play it a higher level than the brand of football being played at Duke, the choice is obvious: his second choice, Notre Dame.

While college basketball coaches -- including Brey, it should be noted -- stopped recruiting Paulus after he committed to Duke, a handful of national football programs didn't get the memo. They're still after Paulus.