The Rock Chalkboard

Kansas coach Bill Self on Kentucky defeat: 'I'm not going to dwell on this' | KUsports.com
"We may show a little bit of tape or something, but I'm not going to dwell on this to make it out bigger than it is," Self said. "I'm telling you, it's not in the big scheme of things."

Kansas basketball coach Bill Self puts lopsided loss to Kentucky in perspective, saying Wildcats 'could win it all' | KUsports.com
“I think the message is why did we get our butts beat likes we did,” he said after the game. “And I think there’s a lot of things you can say we didn’t do, (but) there’s more things you can say they did. They were great. They were terrific. I don’t know if they had a weakness in their game. … That’s a team that could win it all.”

Notebook: 12th-ranked Kentucky makes life tough for Kansas' Ochai Agbaji in 80-62 Wildcats win | KUsports.com
Agbaji, who entered Saturday’s blue blood battle as the reigning Big 12 player of the week after going for 37 points in a Monday night win over No. 13 Texas Tech, was limited to 13 points on 4-of-14 shooting in Saturday’s 80-62 loss to the Wildcats at Allen Fieldhouse.

Bullied & Blue: No. 12 Kentucky rocks No. 5 Kansas, 80-62 at Allen Fieldhouse | KUsports.com
“We went into a couple of different defenses where we were trying to make him beat us; and he beat us,” KU junior Christian Braun said after the loss. “We didn’t want him to shoot wide-open shots, obviously, but if we were going to have anybody shoot the ball, we wanted it to be him and we wanted it to be contested. He got off way too many open looks.”

Kansas basketball team humbled in 80-62 home loss to Kentucky | KUsports.com
Keion Brooks Jr. scored a career-high 27 points, including 15 in the second half, as No. 12 Kentucky resoundingly defeated No. 5 Kansas 80-62 at Allen Fieldhouse on Saturday in the second-worst home loss in Bill Self's 19 seasons as the Jayhawks' coach.

Holly Kersgieter's double-double powers KU women's basketball to win at Oklahoma State | KUsports.com
The junior guard scored seven points in the first half against Oklahoma State, helping KU enter halftime with a 28-20 advantage. The Cowgirls made only two of their 15 shots in the first half and were held scoreless for seven minutes in the first quarter, but they were buoyed by Fields, their leading scorer, who made five of her six free throw attempts before halftime.

Bits o Chalk

Los Angeles Rams rally to beat rival San Francisco 49ers, make hometown Super Bowl LVI a reality
INGLEWOOD, Calif. -- The Los Angeles Rams and their roster full of stars are headed to Super Bowl LVI, where they'll try to win a world championship on their home field.

Cincinnati Bengals storm back, rally past Kansas City Chiefs in overtime to seal Super Bowl berth
Cincinnati rookie kicker Evan McPherson hit a 31-yard field goal in overtime to cap a furious Bengals rally. The winning drive was set up after Cincinnati safety Jessie Bates deflected a deep pass from Kansas City quarterback Patrick Mahomes that was intercepted by safety Vonn Bell.

Patrick Mahomes - Anything short of winning Super Bowl 'disappointing' for Kansas City Chiefs
"The leaders on this team know this isn't our standard,'' said Mahomes, who threw a touchdown pass on each of the Chiefs' first three possessions but threw one interception in the second half and another in overtime. "We want to win the Super Bowl. Whenever you taste winning the Super Bowl, anything less than that is not success.

Sources: Las Vegas Raiders expected to hire New England Patriots' Josh McDaniels as coach; name Dave Ziegler as GM
The Las Vegas Raiders hired Patriots director of player personnel Dave Ziegler as their general manager on Sunday and are expected to hire New England offensive coordinator Josh McDaniels as their new head coach, sources told ESPN's Adam Schefter, in a package deal.

Eraser Dust

Trump dangles prospect of pardons for January 6 defendants if elected president in 2024 - CBS News
"If I run and if I win, we will treat those people from January 6th fairly," Trump said Saturday night during a rally in Conroe, Texas. "And if it requires pardons, we will give them pardons because they are being treated so unfairly."

Black women in vice president's orbit thank Biden for pledge to nominate Black woman to Supreme Court - CNNPolitics
"We believe that it's important that Black women show our appreciation to the President for unequivocally keeping his word on this promise that he made during the campaign and to lay down a marker that says, 'This woman, we will have her back,'" Karen Finney, a senior Democratic strategist and CNN contributor who helped craft the letter, told CNN in an interview. "It's also an expression joy."

Russia willing to go to war and incur sanctions over Ukraine: analysts
Moscow has denied that it plans to invade neighboring Ukraine, a former part of the Soviet Union, despite having assembled around 100,000 troops at the border.

Transporting stolen firearms sends Kalispell man to prison | Daily Inter Lake
MISSOULA — A Kalispell man who admitted to transporting stolen firearms and ammunition from a storage unit after an abandoned rental truck was found in Idaho was sentenced Friday to two years in prison, to be followed by three years of supervised release, and ordered to pay $101,900 restitution, U.S. Attorney Leif M. Johnson said.

Local Leaders Brainstorm Solutions to Prevent Housing Displacement - Flathead Beacon
“There’s nothing out there,” Lauman said. “I’m on disability, my son’s on disability and there’s no subsidized rent in the whole valley … We have no options.”

Lauman and his son are two of an estimated 100 people in 64 rooms, including single mothers, disabled individuals and veterans, at the hotel who are now searching for housing and risk homelessness in the middle of winter.

‘Family-friendly’ salon offers variety of services | Daily Inter Lake
In beauty school, Barton said, she was heavily encouraged to specialize in one specific area, but she wanted to keep her options open by fashioning herself into a multi-dimensional professional.

Spotify makes public platform rules that cover Covid-19 misinformation. Will it be enough? - CNN
Spotify said it is adding a content advisory to any podcast episode that includes discussion about Covid-19. The advisory will direct listeners to a Covid-19 hub that will include links to trusted sources, the company said.