The Rock Chalkboard

Why Bill Self sees KU stopping Indiana's Trayce Jackson-Davis as a unique challenge
Kansas basketball will face arguably its toughest individual challenge of the season on Saturday when No. 14 Indiana comes to Allen Fieldhouse. Sitting at 8-2, the Hoosiers are spearheaded by preseason All-American Trayce Jackson-Davis, who will likely prove to be one of the best players the Jayhawks will come up against all season.

WATCH: Bill Self, Jalen Wilson discuss KU's recent form, Indiana matchup
Kansas basketball is set for a ranked matchup inside Allen Fieldhouse on Saturday, as the Indiana Hoosiers come to town. KU enters Saturday’s game — which will tipoff at 11 a.m. CT — ranked No. 8 in the AP Poll. Indiana is currently ranked No. 14. The Jayhawks will enter the game off the back of three straight wins that come after KU’s first loss of the season. Since the Hoosiers’ win over North Carolina, they’re 1-2 in their last four with a win over Nebraska and losses to Rutgers and Arizona.

Instant Impact: Ranking college basketball's top freshmen so far
Every year, highly decorated freshmen enter college with high expectations on them and you never quite know exactly which touted prospect is going to deliver right away. Taken as a whole, this year's crop of first-year players has been better than expected. Not only have many big-name guys produced, but we've also seen some surprise early performances. Additionally, there are a few players — like 2022's No. 1 ranked player Nick Smith Jr. — who have had their impact delayed by injury.

Bits o Chalk

Kyle Shanahan: Brock Purdy is the most poised rookie I've ever coached - ProFootballTalk
The 49ers have won three games in a row since Jimmy Garoppolo was injured and third-string seventh-round rookie Brock Purdy became their quarterback, and 49ers coach Kyle Shanahan said after Thursday night’s game it was “unbelievable” how well Purdy played.

Stephen Curry’s injury could cause Warriors loads of trouble - Sports Illustrated
There’s really no way to dress up what the Stephen Curry injury means for the Warriors. Depending on the length of time he’s out with a shoulder injury—one that sounds like it will sideline him for at least a few weeks—Golden State could be in real trouble in and around the back end of the Western Conference playoff race.

Billie Moore: Women's basketball pioneer has died at 79 | CNN
Billie Moore – the head coach of the first US women’s Olympic basketball team, the first head coach to lead two schools to national championships in women’s basketball and a member of the Naismith Memorial Basketball Hall of Fame – died Wednesday at the age of 79.

Eraser Dust

5 Louisiana Officers Charged in 2019 Death of Black Driver - The New York Times
The charges in the death of Ronald Greene are the first to emerge in a case that has mobilized activists and drawn widespread scrutiny of the Louisiana State Police.

Death Penalty Researchers Call 2022 ‘Year of the Botched Execution’ - The New York Times
Even as the total number of executions remained among the lowest in a generation, several high-profile failures forced states including Alabama and Tennessee to temporarily halt executions.

Senate passes defense bill that ends Pentagon's covid vaccine mandate - The Washington Post
The bill, which passed by a vote of 83 to 11, directs how federal dollars can be spent on the Pentagon, the U.S. military and related programs. This year, it includes an expansion of funds for helping Ukraine fight off a protracted Russian invasion, a new program to supply Taiwan with unprecedented levels of security assistance, a pay raise for service members and measures to address rising costs due to inflation.

Twitter Suspends Journalists’ Accounts, Some of Whom Wrote About Musk - The New York Times
The social media service, which is owned by Elon Musk, said that it suspends accounts that “violate the Twitter rules” but did not provide details.

‘Losing the plot’: Trump mocked after announcing superhero card collection | Donald Trump | The Guardian
Others wondered if Trump was attempting to ape the “Dark Brandon” internet meme, in which Joe Biden – who beat Trump resoundingly at the ballot box in 2020 – is shown as a super-competent comic book figure with laser vision.

Disney+’s Ahsoka Rumored to Include Alternate Ending for Revenge of the Sith
Not much has been seen or heard from the project, aside from a brief teaser that was shown to those in attendance at Star Wars Celebration 2022. The show will showcase "a completely new and unexplored area of the Star Wars universe," as Dawson's Ahsoka and Natasha Liu Bordizzo Sabine Wren search for Rebels Jedi Ezra Bridger.

Matt Damon on George Clooney pooping in Richard Kind's cat's litter box
During an appearance on “Dennis Miller Live” in 1996, the “Oceans” franchise star, 61, explained that he “took a s–t in the cat box,” which was located in their bathroom, and “waited for [Kind] to come home.”

Missing snowmobiler found dead | Daily Inter Lake
A snowmobiler reported missing Dec. 13 after failing to return from an outing in the Canyon Creek area was found dead by a search and rescue team shortly before sunset Wednesday.