The Rock Chalkboard

MJ Rice makes immediate impact in highly-anticipated debut
MJ Rice finally had the chance to make an impact. After what Bill Self called a lower-back injury kept him out of KU’s exhibition game against Pittsburgh State and the season-opener against Omaha, Rice checked in at the 14:09 mark of the first half against North Dakota State for his debut. It didn’t take long for him to make his presence known as he scored his first points as a Jayhawk less than a minute and a half later with an easy layup opportunity in the paint.

Everything Norm Roberts said after Kansas' win over North Dakota State
Kansas basketball blew out North Dakota State 82-59 on Thursday to improve to 2-0 on the season. The Jayhawks led wire-to-wire on their way to the win and held a 29-point lead at the half, the largest halftime margin since leading Monmouth by 38 in 2019 according to KU’s postgame notes. North Dakota State actually scored more than KU in the second half but the Jayhawks were never threatened.

Three observations from Kansas' 82-59 win over North Dakota State
Kansas improved to 2-0 for the 11th time in the last 20 seasons on Thursday with an 82-59 win over North Dakota State. KU really dominated from the get-go and pulled away during the heart of the first half, using a 33-10 run to blow the game wide open. At the half, KU led 48-19. In the second half, North Dakota State was able to put together a better half and out-scored KU, 40-34.

Quick Recap: Kansas defeats North Dakota State at home to improve to 2-0
Jalen Wilson led the way with a team-high 21 points and collected another nine rebounds. Gradey Dick finished in double-digits as well with 12 points. And in his Jayhawk debut, MJ Rice scored 10 points. Along with the stifling first-half defense, KU had eight steals, forced the Bison into 14 total turnovers and held them to only a 36 percent shooting percentage.

Weekly rankings notes: Austin Mack, Xavier Jordan, Kevin Riley, and more new 2024 4-stars
Thursday's loaded edition of the 247Sports weekly rankings notes includes eight new four-star prospects, the large majority of whom reside in the 2024 recruiting cycle. Speaking of the 2024 class, the next update to the junior Top247 rankings arrives next week, so expect a good batch of newcomers and more movement based on the ever-important junior football season for that group.

Wisconsin transfer set to take official visit to Kansas
Kansas football is looking to build a strong transfer portal class for the third offseason running under Lance Leipold. The Jayhawks got off to a very strong start, landing Wisconsin offensive line transfer Logan Brown back on October 30. Well, Leipold and staff have found another Wisconsin transfer they like in Markus Allen. The wide receiver will take an official visit to KU from November 18 through 20. Phog.net first reported KU’s interest in Allen back on Oct. 31.

Eraser Dust

Elon Musk addresses advertisers and asks them to keep using Twitter | CNN Business
Users who pay for Twitter Blue, the platform’s subscription service, will not be required to provide identifying information other than a credit card and a phone number, Musk confirmed. Twitter will eventually default to displaying tweets from Twitter Blue subscribers, while tweets from users who do not pay for a blue check mark, he said, would be relegated to a separate page on the site and effectively buried unless viewers sought out that material.

Biden federal loan forgiveness plan blocked by federal judge in Texas - CBS News
A conservative group called the Job Creators Network Foundation filed a lawsuit in federal court in Fort Worth in October, arguing the Biden administration violated federal procedures by failing to seek public input on the program. The lawsuit was filed on behalf of two borrowers — one who was purportedly ineligible for the relief, and another who allegedly did not qualify for the maximum $20,000 debt forgiveness. The suit alleges the Biden administration violated federal procedures by denying borrowers an opportunity to provide public comment before debuting the program.

Uncounted votes in Arizona and Nevada could determine U.S. Senate control | Reuters
PHOENIX, Nov 11 (Reuters) - Arizona and Nevada election workers were toiling on Friday to tally hundreds of thousands of uncounted ballots that could determine control of the U.S. Senate, a process officials in the two battleground states warn could drag on for days.

Everything Elon Musk told Twitter employees in his first company meeting - The Verge
During a nearly one-hour Q&A session, which The Verge obtained a recording of — you can read a full transcript below — Musk was blunt about Twitter’s financial state, his ambition to turn Twitter into an app for payments, his love for “gizmos,” and that he now expects employees to work with a “maniacal sense of urgency.”

Donald Trump Is ‘Ready for War’ With 2024 Presidential Announcement
Despite a worse-than-expected Election Day, a Georgia runoff, nervous advisers, and even a hurricane, Donald Trump is currently full-steam ahead on announcing his candidacy for president next Tuesday.

Brittney Griner Is Headed to a Truly Horrific Place - POLITICO
Crowded barracks, limited access to health care, grueling labor and abusive inmates and staff — these are just some of the things that Brittney Griner, the WNBA star sentenced to nine-and-a-half years over less than a gram of cannabis oil in a vape cartridge, could expect to find in a Russian penal colony, according to Olga Romanova, a founder of prison rights advocacy group Russia Behind Bars.

FVCC’s Wachholz College Center Hosts First Concert, Debuts Art Exhibition - Flathead Beacon
The art exhibition, called “Gateway to Glacier,” featured selections from the Hockaday Museum of Art’s permanent collection. The debut musical performers were the Canadian folk and bluegrass trio The Wailin’ Jennys.

Lower Valley residents cry foul over septage facility | Daily Inter Lake
“This septic facility not only impacts me and my neighbors,” she said. “Human waste is a biological hazard and you’re going to force our families to live right next to this. These proposed changes threaten the character of our neighborhood and the landscape.”

Workforce, affordable housing lessons for Flathead Valley | Whitefish Pilot
It is encouraging that Whitefish and now Kalispell are beginning to seriously consider the challenge of maintaining a quality local workforce by exploring innovative workforce and affordable housing strategies. I would encourage them to examine possible lessons from other ski towns and tourist communities. One might be Park City, Utah which we recently visited.

Aaron Carter Claimed He Was Making a Lot of Money on OnlyFans Before His Untimely Death
Aaron Carter became famous in the early 2000s as a teen idol. When he died at age 34, the “I Want Candy” singer was no longer a big name in the entertainment industry. Still, he was reportedly earning a large chunk of money on OnlyFans. Carter claimed his income on the site was around $75,000 a month.

What should USMNT fans realistically expect from the team at 2022 World Cup in Qatar? - The Athletic
Headlined by Christian Pulisic, Weston McKennie and Tyler Adams, the USMNT has an average age of 25.48. They will likely be the youngest team in Qatar. Only one player on the roster — right back DeAndre Yedlin, who, at 29, is a grizzled old man on this squad — has previous World Cup experience.