The Rock Chalkboard

Christian Braun adjusting to regular-season KU basketball action
Christian Braun has one goal for his first season with KU basketball: winning. Now, only two games into his freshman year, Braun could find himself with more opportunities to make an impact on the floor, especially after KU's depth took a hit on Friday.

VIDEO: KU WR commit Lawrence Arnold has big game vs. Cedar Hill
Lawrence Arnold, a three-star wide receiver out of DeSoto, Texas, took on a starring role in his DeSoto squad's one-point loss to Cedar Hill. The highlights are all over social media, and there was even another KU commit in four-star Texas HS linebacker Brennon Scott reported to be in attendance.

Devon Dotson credits teammates for big outing, talks KU roster
Yeah, you could say that. We know what we didn't do Tuesday night and we wanted to correct it and bring that energy. It was the home opener so we just wanted to feed off the crowd and really just get going."

KU basketball podcast: How Jalen Wilson's injury changes Kansas
The Phog.net Podcast kicked off back in July 2018 as a way of bringing you KU basketball, football and recruiting coverage in another format. Today's episode will focus on breaking down KU basketball's 74-62 win over UNC Greensboro in which freshman Jalen Wilson was injured and later announced to be out at least three months with a broken ankle.

KU soccer wins first Big 12 Championship title in program history with 1-0 victory over TCU | KUsports.com
“I got the ball one-on-one on the right-hand side, and I just went straight at (the defender) and beat her,” junior midfielder Ceri Holland said. “Mandi made a great run at the near post and I just drove it in and she put in an unbelievable finish.”

KU women's basketball rolls to 91-50 win | KUsports.com
The Kansas women’s basketball team won its second straight game in dominant fashion, beating the University of Illinois at Chicago by a 91-50 margin on the back of 17 points from leading scorer Aniya Thomas and a double-double from newcomer Tina Stephens.

KU's 3rd down defense a concern entering season's final 3 weeks | KUsports.com
“Third downs,” Lee said, after the Wildcats picked up first down on 11 of their 17 third down plays against Kansas.

KU volleyball falls to TCU in 4 sets | KUsports.com
Despite a tough battle, Kansas dropped a four-set match (26-24, 25-23, 25-17, 25-22) against TCU Saturday at TCU University Recreation Center. KU's lone win of the day came in the second set.

Bits o Chalk

Heat suspend Dion Waiters 10 games after incident
Waiters experienced a "panic attack" on the team's flight from Phoenix to Los Angeles after consuming a THC-infused edible, sources told ESPN's Brian Windhorst and Adrian Wojnarowski.

Knicks president Steve Mills says front office 'not happy' 10 games into season
After a 21-point blowout loss to the Cleveland Cavaliers on Sunday at home, New York Knicks president Steve Mills and general manager Scott Perry addressed the media to express their displeasure with the team's struggles.

JuJu Smith-Schuster agrees with Jalen Ramsey -- 'I'll never be Antonio Brown'
"No disrespect to him, he's not Antonio Brown," Ramsey said. "I matched up with Antonio there for two years, and that was a good battle, and I held my own in those battles, and yeah, now I'm going up against a different person, different body type, different receiver a little bit. He can make plays."

Giants running back Saquon Barkley banged up in career-worst game
New York Giants running back Saquon Barkley's struggles reached new depths Sunday when he had a career-low one rushing yard on 13 carries in a 34-27 loss to the New York Jets. He also failed to effectively block Jets safety Jamal Adams on a pair of sack/fumbles in the contest.

Lamar Jackson joins elite club with perfect passer rating
"I'm a quarterback at the end of the day," Jackson said. "I want to prove that each and every day I go out and practice. I treat it like it's a game. If I miss a pass at practice, I'm ticked off."

Cassius Winston stars in Michigan State's win a day after death of brother
Cassius Winston, an AP preseason first-team All-American, recorded 17 points and 11 assists in the Spartans' 100-47 rout of Binghamton. He received a standing ovation at the Breslin Center in East Lansing, Michigan, when he exited the game with 4:46 to play and shared a hug with coach Tom Izzo and every player and staff member on the Michigan State bench.

Eraser Dust

Restaurant Owner Enslaved Intellectually Disabled Black Man
On Monday, U.S. District Court Judge R. Bryan Harwell sentenced 54-year-old Bobby Paul Edwards to 10 years in federal prison after he pleaded guilty to one count of forced labor, according to a press release from the Department of Justice. Prosecutors say that Edwards, who managed his family’s restaurant, forced Chris Smith, an intellectually disabled black man, to work for free and live in a small room behind the restaurant. Court documents show that Edwards physically abused Smith for at least 17 years, including whipping Smith with a belt, beating him with pots and pans and even burning him with hot grease.

Chadwick Boseman suggests Martin Scorsese ‘didn’t get’ Black Panther because he’s white | The Independent
“The mystery that Scorsese is talking about is in Black Panther,” he told BBC 5 Live. ”If he saw it, he didn’t get that there was this feeling of not knowing what was going to happen that black people felt. We thought, you know, ‘White people will kill us off, so it’s a possibility that we could be gone.’

Kansas restaurant server claims he was fired for having HIV - New York Daily News
Armando Gutierrez learned he had HIV in December 2018. After asking his manager at a Big Biscuit restaurant in Overland Park to sign a form that would get him HIV medication from a state health program, Gutierrez claims he was transferred and given a schedule the restaurant knew he could not work because of “family commitments."

Doctor allegedly performed hysterectomies without consent
An obstetrician-gynecologist in Virginia allegedly performed unnecessary surgeries on unsuspecting patients – including tying a woman’s Fallopian tubes without her consent, according to a report.

Pivotal Week For Impeachment, Bolivia's President Ousted, Hong Kong Protester Shot : NPR
Three diplomats who raised concerns about the president's moves toward Ukraine have testified in private. What can they add as they testify this week in public? The impeachment inquiry opens its doors and lets in the the cameras. Demonstrators in Bolivia are not chanting "yes we can" but "yes we could." How did they force President Evo Morales to surrender his job? And in Hong Kong, the authorities show no sign of giving way to protesters. A policeman grappled with one protester before shooting another. What do the demonstrations on two continents say about the push for democracy?