"as good a guys"

[Laurence Horn]

I'm not sure we've discussed precisely this faute-de-mieux
construction, although it's related to phenomena we have touched on
from time to time...

"The guys I coached here were as good a guys as I've ever dealt with."
--the reasonably articulate Jeff Van Gundy, recently dismissed coach
of the Houston Rockets, about the players on his former team, in
interview on WFAN a few minutes ago.

I call it faute de mieux because there really isn't any better plural
of "as good a guy", although I suppose most speakers would come up
with "as good guys as..."   Seems like a good candidate for a
Jerry-Cohenian blend, "(He was) as good a guy as..." + "(They were)
good guys".

LH

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