ACC Roundup!

In Monday night's ACC action, after a bit of struggle, Florida State knocked off Louisiana-Monroe by 15, although it was a five point game at the half.

True to form, FSU had 19 turnovers (to seven assists) and held ULM to 38% from the floor.

Michael Snaer and Ian Miller sat the game out.

Of probably more interest was Georgia Tech's solid 34 point win over Alabama State, which featured the debut of the Poole Brothers.

Stacey was the more prepared; Solomon has had less than a week of practice. Neither one had a particularly exciting game: Stacey finished with a pair of free throws in six minutes, while Solomon matched him with two free throws in six minutes but also tossed the ball away three times in that span. (Update: The Atlanta Journal-Constitution mistakenly listed both Pooles as having played last night; they have since corrected their article. Only Stacey played).

It's not important what they did this time out; what's important is what they represent: a major boost in athleticism and basketball ability.

Some bad news for Tech: Corey Heyward, who was already redshirted with a torn left ACL, ripped it again in workouts.

Also, Jason Morris sat out with plantar fasciitis.

On Wednesday, a nice treat for Duke fans as Johnny Dawkins brings his Stanford team to the ABC Arena (we have a hard time remembering all the name permeations) to play State.

PNC! Formerly RBC. Formerly ESA. There, we knew we'd get it eventually.

Stanford is cruising along at 7-3 despite some injuries.

The losses are to Belmont - Duke fans know better than to overlook the Bruins - and to Missouri and Minnesota.

State's a pretty good measuring stick and vice-versa. The Cardinal won last year by four, but that was early in the season.

Actually, we had forgotten, but State's loss to Stanford was eerily like their loss to Duke: Stanford finished with a 17-1 run to win 76-72.

Fan's Guides: Your ACC Lifeline All Season Long!

Duke| State | UNC

Testimonials!

“The Fan’s Guide is the essential source for Duke basketball fans in 2012. It is packed with brilliant analysis and writing by the ACC’s most astute basketball writers. I have not enjoyed any reading as much this season.” Professor Walter Manley, II

“If you love NCSU Athletics this is a must read, I will buy it every year, very thorough and precise.” Richard Mark Hunt

I was just glad to find a magazine about Duke basketball. I thoroughly enjoyed the magazine. It was well written and very informative. A must read for any diehard Duke fan.Camille H

"I get excited enough about basketball season as it is, but this Guide has been on my screen for weeks now and I'm more excited than ever. Not just about Duke, but the whole league. There are some truly unique and remarkable stats in this book, enough to make you just itch for the games to begin and see how the players do this year. I think my favorite article is the one on athletes and social media, though. I've read it three times already! Great photos, great writing, and lots of both. This is essential. " PlanBee

"If you haven't purchased the Fan's Guide yet, what are you waiting for? It contains marvelous old-school content in a new-school format." Jerry K.

"Thanks a lot! The guide looks fantastic! I am really excited to dig in." Rick W

"Wow, huge piece of work! Congratulations. You guys never fail to provide the best a fan could ask for." Bill C.

DBR Auctions! New T-Shirts! DBR Is On Twitter!(DBRTweetz)

That was also when CJ Leslie was having leg cramps, perhaps from the stress of moving from CJ to Calvin.

Miami hazards a trip to UCF. Normally over exam break the idea is to get teams like that at home rather than risk an upset.

And speaking of upsets, Wake hosts Furman, a program which has sprung an upset now and again. We'll see. The Paladins are just 3-6, but Wake is weaker than we ever thought we'd see them.

Incidentally, we always thought Paladin was a kind of horse, but we see now we were mistaken. According to Wikipedia (and you know they're never wrong), the Paladins were the twelve greatest warriors of Charlemagne's court.

Sounds like just the sort Wake could use, come to think of it.

So we would have place them alongside the Billikens (named after a 19th and 20th century type of figurine that surprisingly hasn't been found racist yet) and Banana Slugs as particularly unusual nicknames.

Though there are many different looks for Billikens, generally speaking, they appear to be Asian and many somewhat resemble a cross between a very dim Buddha and Zippy the Pinhead.

Notwithstanding this, they caught on in Japan, again from Wikipedia:

"Throughout Japan representations of the Billiken were enshrined. Pre-World War II statues of the Billiken can be found in Kobe city's Chinju Inari and Matsuo Inari shrines. Both of these statues were removed from display for many years at the onset of the war when foreign deities fell out of favor.

"The most famous representation of the Billiken was in an amusement park, Luna Park, in the Shinsekai district of Osaka, Japan. In 1912, he was enshrined in the park as a symbol of Americana and there was revered as "The God of Things As They Ought to Be". Popular Billiken souvenirs in the park included dolls and manju (sweet buns filled with red paste). When the park closed in 1923, the wooden statue of the Billiken went missing.

"A replica of the statue was placed in the second-generation Tsutenkaku Tower in 1980. Due to wear (particularly to the soles of the feet), the dark, worn statue was replaced in May 2012 with a new one. Presently he resides on the fifth floor observation deck and has become closely associated with the tower. Each year thousands of visitors place a coin in his donation box and rub the soles of his well-worn feet to make their wishes come true. In October 2008, the Billiken of Tsutenkaku took a journey all the way from Japan to its founding city of St. Louis where it was visited by students of St. Louis University High School, whose mascot is also the billiken."