The Rock Chalkboard

No. 1 Kansas outlasts K-State 62-58 - Bring On The Cats
If anyone was expecting a thrashing or a “mauling,” it did not develop. In a clearly mandated move after the anthem, the teams met at midcourt to shake hands, and no tempers flared, at any time. KU (26-3, 15-1 Big 12) built as much as a nine point lead, but K-State (9-20, 2-14) used swarming defense to force 16 turnovers that they converted into 19 points to stay in the game.

Bill Self reacts to Big 12 race after win at KSU, Baylor loss
The press conference ended, and Bill Self held his position for an extra beat. After taking questions from the media, Self was waiting on an answer to his own question.

Devon Dotson 'carried' KU basketball to win over Kansas State
KU’s point guard has been a marathon man this season. He had played 34-plus minutes in seven-straight contests entering KU's last game, and he had played 38-plus minutes in four of them. Self saw a dip in Dotson’s performance in KU’s win over Oklahoma State and said it was the least amount of energy Dotson had played with all season.

Big 12 Hoops Power Rankings with one week left
College football season is over and all the focus is on basketball now. Teams have hit the halfway point of conference play and our opinions on each squad are clearing up. Each week, we'll recap what happened for each team in the Big 12 Conference over the previous seven days, then update our Actually Accomplished Rankings, a version of a power ranking that does not take into account who we "think" is better, but rather who has done the most on the court.

Media praises Dotson, Kansas after win at Kansas State
Survive and advance is the rallying cry for March, but it could also describe the basketball world of the Kansas Jayhawks on Feb. 29; a day that would be March 1 in any year but a leap year. Kansas survived an inspired effort from Kansas State to win 62-58, advancing as the nation's No. 1 team and as Big 12 leaders. But on the same day, conference co-leaders Baylor failed to do the same, falling for the second time in three games and putting Kansas all alone atop the Big 12 standings.

Updated: Udoka Azubuike sustains ankle injury at KSU, returns
The 7-footer was battling in the post and jumped in the air. When he landed, he may have come down on another player's foot. Azubuike immediately went to the ground and grabbed at his right ankle. He looked to be in significant pain, and, after a stoppage when he was checked on by KU's staff, he slowly got up and limped off the court.

Jay Bilas 'favors' two teams to make the Final Four
“I favor Kansas and I favor Baylor to get there,” Bilas said. “Those two teams have stood out, and then there are other teams, that like Scotty [Van Pelt] mentioned, there’s probably about eight or nine teams that I put in the top tier to be able to get to the Final Four and win the national championship. But the difference I see is: I don’t think anybody can win. When people say anybody can win, I don’t agree with that. I think anybody can lose. Like anybody can lose a game. But the universe of teams that can win this whole thing is probably nine, maybe 10.”

Bits o Chalk

Deiveson Figueiredo KO's Joseph Benavidez; flyweight title stays vacant
Deiveson Figueiredo added to the turbulent history of the UFC men's flyweight division Saturday by winning a title fight in which he was not eligible to capture the belt.

Do-it-all defender Isaiah Simmons posts blistering 4.39 in 40-yard dash
Simmons, who lined up almost everywhere at some point in the Clemson defense, was put with the linebackers in the on-field workouts at the combine. And he blistered the turf inside Lucas Oil Stadium with, at 6-foot-3⅝ and 238 pounds, a 4.39-second clocking in the 40-yard dash.

Russell Westbrook, Rockets' 'other MVP,' torches Celtics in OT win
That's why the Rockets pounced on the opportunity to pair Harden with another recent MVP, acquiring Russell Westbrook for Chris Paul and a package of draft picks last summer. That deal paid dividends for Houston on Saturday night, when Harden struggled but Westbrook starred in a 111-110 overtime victory over the Boston Celtics.

LeBron James says Grizzlies 'got a great one' in Ja Morant
"That's big bro -- the King," Morant said Saturday after posting 27 points, 14 assists and 6 rebounds in a 105-88 victory over the Los Angeles Lakers. "I mean, I feel like everybody knows who he is. Just somebody that I look up to, a great [role] model. He's just one of a kind. I don't think there can be another LeBron."

Eraser Dust

Bernie Sanders leads Texas Democratic primary on Super Tuesday: NBC poll
Bernie Sanders holds a comfortable lead in Tuesday’s Texas Democratic primary, one of the biggest troves of delegates up for grabs in the race for the 2020 presidential nomination, according to an NBC News/Marist poll released Sunday.

What does Joe Biden's South Carolina win mean for the Democratic race? | Panel | Opinion | The Guardian
Joe Biden did much to consolidate the moderate wing of the Democratic presidential electorate with a blowout win Saturday in South Carolina. He exceeded expectations as African-American voters flocked to him. But Biden continues to face a daunting path forward if Bernie Sanders wins California as big as polls suggest on Super Tuesday, and if Michael Bloomberg does not go away.

Coronavirus: Australia and Thailand report first deaths
ran’s death toll from the coronavirus hit 54 on Sunday, its health ministry said, just days after the Iranian government denied 50 deaths from the virus reported by a lawmaker in the city of Qom, the center of the country’s outbreak.

Coronavirus: Pence defends Trump Jr claim Democrats want 'millions' to die | World news | The Guardian
When Donald Trump Jr said Democrats hope coronavirus “kills millions of people” in the US because they want to bring his father down, he was merely “pushing back” at politicisation of the viral outbreak by Trump opponents, Mike Pence claimed in an interview broadcast on Sunday.

Daily Inter Lake - Local News, Whitefish inventors develop new kind of rocket engine
They may have created a way to make that happen and allow almost anyone to be launched into orbit. They’re the team behind the Fenris, an air-breathing, liquid-fueled rocket engine they say could radically change space travel, but also long-distance flights around the world.