Just in case you thought I was kidding about the conference call or if you thought I was just whining, here's the full text of Florida State coach Leonard Hamilton's visit with the ACC media.

Now multiply that by 12.

If you are a college basketball fan and are computer literate, chances are you’ve heard of Ken Pomeroy. His blog, kenpom.com, is one of the most informative and statistically fascinating on the internet.

I e-mailed Ken today to figure out who is this guy who runs this popular blog. Turns out Ken’s a Virginia Tech graduate and a meteorologist who works for the National Weather Service in Cheyenne, Wyo.

I’m not saying this guy’s smart, but he applied the Pythagorean Theorem to college basketball.

“I don’t have a hard-core math background,” Pomeroy, 32, wrote. “But I have degrees in civil engineering and atmospheric science (meteorology), so I have been exposed to a fair amount of math along the way. I think the lack of serious math training helps me relate to most fans and in that respect, try to keep the concepts simple.”

Well, not too simple (see: the tempo/pace stats in his ratings on the top of the page) but definitely interesting.

Howard Stern is infinitely more popular in New York — where I am this week — than by us, but this is still a pretty big deal in the entertainment world.

Somehow I doubt Coach K will have the same effect on XM's subscription numbers. Man, if he did that would be some kind of scandal.

Herb Sendek did his best on Monday to steer the media off the UNC game and onto Boston College. He was gracious in answering questions about the UNC loss but made it clear, “You can’t dwell on the past.”

Well, I might for just one more post, and then I’ll let it go, at least until the rematch on Feb. 22.

State went to Chapel Hill game allowing an ACC-low 58.5 points per game. Granted, that number is inflated by playing some less than spectacular non-conference opponents, but it’s still a pretty good indication that State plays defense.

But against UNC, the Wolfs allowed a season-high 82 points. No team had reached the 70s before the Heels.

I asked Sendek on Monday’s conference call if there was a reason the defense broke down against UNC and if there was a way to keep the game against Boston College out of the 80s.

To the first question, in true Sendek-ese, the coach said: “Some of their baskets were much more a function of our offense than our defense.”

Translation: Sloppy execution can lead to dunks.

And on the second question, Sendek rightfully pointed out: “We wouldn’t mind getting the game in the 80s, as long as we had more points than the other team.”

The conference call is community service for sportswriters. Going to the game, that’s the good part. And then there’s the teleconference with the ACC’s 12 coaches.

The way the world works now, the conference call is the only time to talk to coaches, except after a game, at which point they’re more inclined to talk about such salient topics as, well, the previous 40 minutes of basketball.

That leaves us with the conference call. At its best, it’s informational, at its worst, it’s the equivalent of being forced to watch “Dante’s Peak”.

Who are the people at TBS who thought: “You know what will boost the ratings — ‘Dante’s Peak!’”

In case you missed it, or completely blocked it out of your memory of awesomely insipid disaster movies, it’s about a volcano. Basically, its only valuable contribution to society was determining why Linda Hamilton hadn’t worked since “T2.”

Back to the blog. This being one, and you being interested in basketball, I survived through the conference call this morning and waded through the cliches came up with the highlights.

— Mike Krzyzewski said freshman guard Greg Paulus injured the pinky finger on his left hand in the opening minutes of Duke’s 82-64 win over Wake Forest on Sunday.

Coach K said Paulus had his hand x-rayed on Monday but he did not know the exact status of the injury. K also said Paulus would play on Wednesday against Maryland.

“It was pointing in a different direction,” K said of Paulus’ injured finger. “Hopefully it won’t be serious.”

— Clemson’s Oliver Purnell said sophomore forward James Mays, of Garner, has no hope of returning this season from academic suspension. Mays’ father, Hardrick, had said last week he thought there was a chance his son could return this season.

“I don’t think so,” Purnell said. “We will not be with James the rest of the season.”

=> Read more!

Grey Blackwell, who created the animations "Chuck Dynamite" and "Miami Twice?", cooked up two more: "David Stern: Fashion Sheriff" and "Reggie Bush for President."

Grey, the N&O's graphics editor and creative tour-de-force, created the Stern animation for Fox Sports Net and the "Southern Sports Awards". He was kind enough to put it up on his web site for us.

The Bush animation was posted on Rivals.com before the Rose Bowl.

The Darius Rucker bit in the Stern cartoon ranks right up there with "Do Hokies have large talons?"

And you can't forget the Willie Parker blast in Miami Twice?

N.C. State's loss at UNC leaves the Wolfs 1-1 in the ACC but not alone. The road teams went 1-5 this weekend in conference play. The AP Top 25 teams went 7-8, which includes George Washington needing overtime to beat an awful Marshall team.

That's not to excuse State's loss but it also adds perspective. Illinois, Kentucky, Oklahoma, Ohio State, Maryland, Boston College and Michigan State are all ranked teams that lost. Is the world off its axis for all of those teams? Of course not.

That's why I have a "Rule of Ten." Any road loss of ten or less is the equivalent of a win in my book. Remember, there are no true home games in the NCAA Tournament. There are advantageous paths (Syracuse in 2003, Illinois 2005, any year Duke gets to go to New Jersey) but no home games. For other schools — Duke, Illinois, Vanderbilt, Indiana, Iowa State, Wisconsin and yes, Carolina — the rule gets extended to 15.

State lost by 13. It will be OK, even if they lose again on Tuesday at Boston College, which by the way, is 0-2 in the ACC. Yep, you guessed it, both of those games were on the road.

WINSTON-SALEM — Duke sophomore guard DeMarcus Nelson made a loud return to the hardwood on Sunday night in Duke's 82-64 victory over Wake Forest.

Playing for the first time since injuring his right ankle on Nov. 23, Nelson's only points came when freshman forward Josh McRoberts set Nelson up with an alley-oop pass that Nelson dunked with 3:33 left in the first half.

Duke coach Mike Krzyzewski said team doctors told him that Nelson would be available for emergencies and "there about nine of them," Krzyzewski said.

Nelson, about whom Krzyzewski said should be Duke's best perimeter defender this season, also jumped into the deep end of the pool on defense. He guarded Wake Forest guard Justin Gray whenever Nelson got on the floor during his 11 minutes of action.