The Rock Chalkboard

Kansas freshman Christian Braun hoping to make defensive strides
Christian Braun is still working on his defense. In fact, on one play in the last game, one of Braun's teammates politely indicated to him where he needed to be when the Jayhawks were defending a sort of handoff at the top of the key.

Taking a closer look at three first-half KU football play calls
"Consistency," said KU coach Les Miles on Monday. "I think the plan is pretty much laid out, OK, and I think the players certainly understand it and they just need to be consistently performing and executing and that's it. I think we know what to do. We just need to do it and ... get our tempo back."

College basketball coaches poll announces new top 25
The Jayhawks bounced back from Duke with wins against UNCG and Monmouth. Most recently against Monmouth, Kansas took a 112-57 victory. Six players reached double figures with a team-high 21 points off the bench from Isaiah Moss in just 15 minutes. Devon Dotson leads Kansas in scoring at 18.7 points per game. Udoka Azubuike has 10 points and 8.7 rebounds in his first three games back under Bill Self.

Notebook: Some significant Jayhawks could use 2019 as redshirt season | KUsports.com
Notably, a handful of freshmen could gain an extra year of eligibility by using 2019 as a redshirt season. Per KU’s participation reports, the following first-year scholarship players in the program could potentially end up appearing on the 2020 roster as redshirt freshmen:

KU football is big underdog for road tilt with Iowa State | Jackson's Journal | KUsports.com
KU will travel to Iowa State this weekend for another 11 a.m. kickoff. ESPN’s FPI gives the Jayhawks just a 4.6% chance of winning, which is their lowest chance of victory over the final three games of the 2019 season.

Bits o Chalk

Spurs vs. Mavericks - Game Recap - November 18, 2019 - ESPN
"It feels like every day there are stats you don't know about, stats that you read about," Doncic said. "It's great to hit."

Russell Westbrook -- Don't normalize James Harden's greatness
James Harden's scoring average for the season dipped slightly Monday, when he scored 36 points in the Houston Rockets' 132-108 win over the Portland Trail Blazers.

Paul George again comes up clutch for Clippers against former team
"You know, there was a big thing about [how I] can't make it to win games," George said. "That stuff doesn't bother me. I am out there to play hard and to win games. I feel confident in every shot that I take. It's up to me to make it or miss it. That type of stuff don't bother me."

Chargers' Philip Rivers on 4-turnover night -- 'Obviously I need to cut them out'
"It's a football game," he said. "If you could just pick and choose and never throw [interceptions] ever, I'd choose to throw zero. So I certainly don't want to throw them, but I know it's hurting us right now. So obviously I need to cut them out."

Eraser Dust

‘Meth. We’re on It’: South Dakota’s Anti-Meth Campaign Raises Eyebrows - The New York Times
Many saw the slogan as tone-deaf or a failed attempt at cleverness. State officials said it was provocative by design.

Man Killed on U.S. 93 Bypass - Flathead Beacon
According to the Kalispell Police Department, law enforcement received a report of a male outside the chain link fence on the Three Mile Drive overpass above U.S. Highway 93 at 2 p.m. A short time later, dispatch received a report that a man had been struck by a car at that same location on the bypass.

The United States once again kicks the Huawei can down the road - CNN
The Department of Commerce has again extended the temporary general license allowing American companies to sell to Huawei, the embattled Chinese tech company. The existing temporary license was set to expire Monday.

Hong Kong protests: about 100 still holed up at university | World news | The Guardian
About 100 protesters remain holed up at a university surrounded by police in Hong Kong, on the third day of the most prolonged and tense confrontation in more than five months of conflict in the semi-autonomous city.

DOJ Antitrust Chief Says He'll Throw Out Movie Distribution Rules That Helped Kill the Studio System
The Department of Justice is working to rescind the Paramount consent decrees, a set of 1940s legal rules limiting studios’ power over theaters that helped usher in the end of the notorious old Hollywood system, the Wall Street Journal reported on Monday.