The Rock Chalkboard

Preview: Second KU basketball-West Virginia matchup may look different
If you remember anything about KU basketball's last game against West Virginia, it was probably the 3-point barrage the Jayhawks used to bury the Mountaineers.

Bill Self gives injury update on KU's Bryce Thompson (finger)
“First of all, he’s going to be a really good player,” Self explained. “If he hadn’t got hurt you guys would see how much he’d be playing and how much trust we'd have. Probably should have played him more than what we actually did up until Christmas.”

Kansas OC analysis: Mike DeBord not an 'old-school coach,' insider says
“I never got the sense that he was an old-school coach,” said Patrick Brown, who covered DeBord at Tennessee. “I know at Michigan he probably ran a little bit more I-formation, pro-style, all that stuff. I thought he adapted well to what Tennessee had. ... I wouldn’t say he was old-school by any stretch. They did pretty much everything out of the shotgun with some wrinkles here and there.”

KU Campus Underground: Hoops, football & recruiting news (2/5)
This week's edition has you covered after Kansas' hiring of a new offensive coordinator. We break down the hiring and what the quarterback spot and offense might look like next year. We also have news on eight seniors returning to the KU football program, including linebacker Kyron Johnson, plus the latest from the hoops side of things.

How the Big 12 signing classes rank for 2021
National Signing Day has come and gone, meaning that the final team rankings for the 2021 recruiting cycle are set. So how does the Big 12 Conference stack up? Though two of the league's usual suspects, Texas and Oklahoma, are toward the top for yet another year, there's a switch-up in the No. 1 Big 12 school for the first time since 2017, while another program took a rather jarring dip after finishing third in the league just a year ago.

Bits o Chalk

Los Angeles Lakers' LeBron James has 'zero energy, zero excitement' for All-Star Game
"I have zero energy and zero excitement about an All-Star Game this year," James said after the Los Angeles Lakers' 114-93 win over the Denver Nuggets on Thursday. "I don't even understand why we're having an All-Star Game."

Ryan Fitzpatrick advises Miami Dolphins' Tua Tagovailoa to block out criticism, predicts big Year 2
"Everything is going to be a little more comfortable this year," Fitzpatrick told ESPN on Thursday. "Playing in the league is going to be a little more familiar, your routine through the week and on road games. He's no longer trying to figure out where the grocery store is, where he's going to live or what car he's going to drive. All that stuff is figured out. He can solely focus on being an NFL QB.

NFL's Roger Goodell -- Two minority head coach hirings 'wasn't what we expected'
"I'm not sure there's an issue we spent more time with our ownership on," Goodell said as part of his annual state-of-the-league address ahead of Sunday's Super Bowl. "Our ownership is committed and focused on this."

Memo -- NBA, NBPA finalizing agreement on All-Star Game in Atlanta, protocols during break
The NBA and NBPA are finalizing details on health and safety protocols that will govern the All-Star participants and those players dispersing for the league's March 5-10 break, the memo said. The All-Star Game and skills competitions will be held at State Farm Arena, home of the Atlanta Hawks, sources tell ESPN.

Eraser Dust

Senate Passes Budget Resolution With Harris' Tiebreaking Vote : NPR
The Senate approved a budget resolution early Friday morning that tees up President Biden's $1.9 trillion coronavirus relief bill for passage without Republican support. With the Senate evenly divided, Vice President Harris cast the tiebreaking vote.

The $2.7 Billion Case Against Fox News - The New York Times
“The Earth is round. Two plus two equals four. Joe Biden and Kamala Harris won the 2020 election for president and vice president of the United States.” So begins the 280-page complaint filed by Smartmatic, an election software company, against the Fox Corporation.

What Biden's foreign policy 'reset' really means - BBC News
That's not to say the Biden administration doesn't see Iran as a matter of "great urgency". It calculates that the Islamic Republic has come much closer to the "break out" point of being able to make a nuclear bomb since Trump pulled out of the deal restricting Iran's nuclear programme - a deal which Biden has said he's willing to resurrect.

Dave Grohl’s Drum Battle With 10-Year-Old Girl Led to LP Release
“It felt strange to wait, because every album we’ve ever made, the energy of completing an album, mixing it and mastering it, having these new songs under your belt, it just rolls right over into hitting the road and taking the new music to the stage,” he told Kerrang! in a new interview. “This time it’s gone. That process is just broken. It’s severed right there.”

Kalispell man shares Jeopardy! experience
“There isn’t a lot of opportunity to get used to it and It’s heftier than I thought which was nice, I used two hands so, plenty of force if I needed it,” Crane told MTN News.

Whitefish Opposes Bill to Abolish Affordable Housing Program - Flathead Beacon
“This is the wrong thing to do, and it is bad policy,” Davis told members of the House Local Government Committee on Feb. 2, when state lawmakers heard from stakeholders on both sides of a piece of legislation, HB259, that would abolish Whitefish’s affordable workforce housing program by prohibiting its “inclusionary zoning” ordinance, a statute requiring that a share of some new residential construction — that requiring a discretionary permit, such as a conditional-use permit — be designated affordable for people with a certain income.

Cops Swarm Marilyn Manson's L.A. Home for Welfare Check
Marilyn Manson's home was swarming with cops after a worried friend called concerned for the singer's well-being... saying they'd been unable to get in touch with him for hours.