The Rock Chalkboard

Bill Self, Ochai Agbaji react to KU basketball's return to AP Top 25
“It feels good to be back in the top 25,” said KU wing Ochai Agbaji on Monday. “We’ve just got to keep working off of it. And I think this is just a start for where we want to be at two weeks from now [at the end of the regular season].”

KU basketball's Jalen Wilson named Big 12 Newcomer of the Week
The KU basketball freshman was averaging better than 15 points through the Jayhawks' first 11 games. Many considered him among the team's more indispensable players given both his statistics and minutes, not to mention he allowed the team to try out five-guard lineups where he manned the center spot.

AP basketball top 25 rankings announced for Feb. 15
Rankings were the story of the weekend with the first March Madness potential seeds revealed Saturday on CBS by the committee. And now after a packed weekend on the hard court, the AP top 25 rankings are updated to reflect the games. Multiple top-10 teams took the headlines over the weekend, including Michigan's return to the court after almost a month. College basketball also saw Villanova go down to Creighton

2022 TE Houston Thomas talks first offer from Kansas football
"I started as a four-year old playing flag football," Thomas recalled to Phog.net. "My first year I wasn't very good. But then again, I was four and I was so big as a little kid."

2022 QB Khalib Johnson to reopen recruitment, hold off on commitment
"At this time, I would like to announce that I will not be committing on Feb. 20th," Johnson said. "After further discussions with my family and coaches, we have decided that reopening my recruitment process is best. I'm eager and excited to continue to build relationships and bonds with the college coaches. Hopefully soon I will have the opportunity to meet ... coaches face to face and physically view the campuses."

Bits o Chalk

Ex-NFL WR Vincent Jackson found dead in Florida at age 38
The body of the 38-year-old Jackson was found at approximately 11:30 a.m. ET on Monday at the Homewood Suites in Brandon, Florida. Police said there were no apparent signs of trauma, and the Hillsborough County Medical Examiner's Office will determine the cause of death.

Sources -- Los Angeles Lakers star Anthony Davis has calf strain, to be reevaluated in 2-3 weeks
Davis missed two games last week with tendonosis in his right Achilles and had to exit Sunday's loss to the Denver Nuggets shortly before halftime after aggravating the injury.

UCF football names Gus Malzahn as new head coach
UCF hired former Auburn football coach Gus Malzahn on Monday, signing him to a five-year, $11.5 million contract and banking on the offensive background and name recognition he brings with him.

Stanford, UConn, South Carolina, Louisville snare top seeds in first early reveal of NCAA tournament
NC State, the only team this season with two wins over the nation's No. 1 team (South Carolina and Louisville), was a No. 2 seed and the sixth overall team in Monday's reveal. The Wolfpack also have losses to two unranked teams: Virginia Tech (in overtime) and North Carolina. One of Stanford's losses was also to an unranked team, Colorado, and the other was to UCLA.

Freshman Jalen Johnson opts out of remainder of Duke's season to begin preparation for NBA draft
Johnson, the No. 13 prospect in the ESPN 100 last season, has had an up-and-down season with the Blue Devils. He opened his career with 19 points, 19 rebounds and 5 assists against Coppin State but suffered a foot injury a couple of weeks later and missed three games. After returning to the starting lineup, Johnson has come off the bench for the past three games. He played a combined 23 minutes the past two games, scoring just three points in eight minutes against NC State this past weekend.

Eraser Dust

Snow and ice storms: Millions without power as winter weather blasts the US
More than 3 million customers were without power in the US as of early this morning as winter storms grip the country. More than 2.7 million of the outages have been reported in Texas, where rolling outages started overnight following high demand.

New York Gov. Andrew Cuomo's Covid-19 controversy, explained - CNNPolitics
At the heart of the matter is the question of whether New York could better have prevented the state's nearly 46,000 deaths, the second-highest total of any US state so far, and whether the decision to discharge recovering residents from hospitals back to nursing homes increased infections among vulnerable elderly residents.

Liam Gallagher confirms Oasis reunion insisting 'it's gonna happen' as band predicted to get back together THIS year
The 48-year-old took to Twitter to tell his followers "it's going to happen" after one young fan begged the rockstar to "bring Oasis back".

Rep. Adam Kinzinger's relatives call him 'disappointment to us and to God'
"Oh my, what a disappointment you are to us and to God!" the letter, which Kinzinger first discussed in an interview with Insider's Anthony Fisher and was shared in full with The New York Times, began. "We were once proud of your accomplishments! Instead, you go against your Christian principles and join 'the Devil's army' (Democrats and the news media)."

Bigfork Library Campaign Surpasses Major Milestone - Flathead Beacon
A fundraising campaign for a new Bigfork library is a third of the way to its goal, offering hope that work on the new site can begin in 2021.

Parler: rightwing social network back online after US Capitol riot controversy | Parler | The Guardian
arler, a social media service popular with American rightwing users that virtually vanished after the US Capitol riot, re-launched on Monday and said its new platform was built on “sustainable, independent technology”.

CO2 dip may have helped dinosaurs walk from South America to Greenland
A new paper refines estimates of when herbivorous dinosaurs must have traversed North America on a northerly trek to reach Greenland, and points out an intriguing climatic phenomenon that may have helped them along the journey.