The Rock Chalkboard

KJ Adams puts together efficient offensive showing vs. UK, holds his own against Oscar Tshiebwe
Following two lackluster offensive performances against TCU and Baylor, KU needed KJ Adams to step up. Looking to avoid the first four-game losing streak under Bill Self and KU needing that third scoring option that had been absent from previous games, the sophomore forward provided that much-needed offensive showing against Kentucky in a hostile environment in Rupp Arena. All while holding his own against Kentucky big man Oscar Tshiebwe.

Jalen Wilson inching closer to an elite group of Jayhawks, making KU history along the way
LEXINGTON, Ken. — Every player’s path with KU basketball is different. Jalen Wilson is no exception. But even though Wilson’s journey at KU has been different than any other, the trajectory he’s currently on as a redshirt junior has him on track to land where the recent KU greats have landed or will in the future — the Allen Fieldhouse rafters.

Basketball Snap Judgments and Big 12 Power Rankings
The Big 12 Conference meatgrinder continues. Teams are cannibalizing each other left and right across the league, with upsets and big wins happening nearly every day. After two more games since our last update, now's the time to update our snap judgments and the Actually Accomplished Rankings. First, we'll give a rundown of each team, what happened since our last update, and what's up next on the schedule.

Kansas gets potential momentum-shifting win over Kentucky, avoiding history under Bill Self
KU arrived at Rupp Arena on Saturday evening looking to avoid history. Never before under Bill Self had the Jayhawks lost four straight games. In fact, the Jayhawks haven’t suffered four-straight losses this century (you'd have to go back to 1988-89 for that). The Jayhawks had dropped their previous three conference games and Saturday’s game against a fellow Blue Blood in Kentucky was the chance KU had to right the ship before a crucial stretch of Big 12 play began.

Bits o Chalk

Kansas City Chiefs top Bengals to make it back to the Super Bowl
The face of the NFL, quarterback Patrick Mahomes had a legacy-defining ahead of himself on Sunday night. After the QB suffered a high-ankle sprain in the first quarter of the Divisional round, Mahomes re-entered the game and will now played through that injury again in the 2023 AFC title game.

Jalen Hurts reflects on journey after lifting Eagles to Super Bowl
"My first year here [people] probably didn't even want [me drafted] here. It was probably one of those things. But it always handles itself," he said following Philadelphia's 31-7 win over the San Francisco 49ers in the NFC title game Sunday. "It was a big surprise to many. My favorite [Bible] verse, I went through a lot of stuff in college and it kind of stuck with me, John 13:7: 'You may not know now but later you'll understand.' Hopefully people understand."

49ers' emergency quarterback, who's not a QB, could have been forced to play in NFC Championship vs. Eagles - CBSSports.com
So who is the emergency QB? That would be either Kyle Juszczyk or Christian McCaffrey, according to the Fox broadcast. It started to look more and more possible that one of those two guys could end up taking taking a few snaps under center. With Johnson out, the 49ers put Purdy back in, though he could barely throw due to his injured elbow. The Eagles won the game, 31-7, to reach Super Bowl LVII. McCaffrey threw one pass, as the depleted 49ers mostly stuck with running plays late in the game.

Super Bowl 2023: Eagles open as small betting underdogs against the Chiefs
The Kansas City Chiefs opened as slight favorites in the Super Bowl — 1.5-point favorites at BetMGM. A few minutes after the line was posted, it moved to Eagles -1.5. Then in a couple minutes it moved again, to Eagles -2.5. That's a quick reaction to the Eagles, who looked great in an NFC championship game win.

Eraser Dust

Tyre Nichols: Body cam footage of Black man being beaten by Memphis police is released | The Independent
Memphis officials on Friday released disturbing police footage of the arrest of Tyre Nichols, a 29-year-old Black man who died in hospital three days after being violently detained during a traffic stop earlier this month.

Far-right project that pushed election lies expands mission as Trump ramps up 2024 campaign | Donald Trump | The Guardian
ReAwaken America, a project of Oklahoma-based entrepreneur Clay Clark, has hosted numerous revival-style political events across the US after receiving tens of thousands of dollars in initial funds in 2021 from millionaire Patrick Byrne, and become a key vehicle for pushing election denialism and falsehoods about Covid vaccines.

Utah Bans Transition Care for Transgender Youth - The New York Times
The measure, signed by the governor on Saturday, is part of a wave of proposed legislation in states across the country this year that would restrict transgender rights.

‘Seinfeld’: All the Reasons Jerry Dumped a Woman, Ranked by Pettiness | Cracked.com
For answers, I turned to comedian, podcaster, relationship expert and Seinfeld superfan Allison Raskin, author of Overthinking About You: Navigating Romantic Relationships When You Have Anxiety, OCD and/or Depression. She agreed to help me rank every time Jerry dumped a woman on the show, plus the times the women in his life broke up with him due to his own pettiness. It amounts to a total of 38 breakups. Some, much to Raskin’s own surprise, were perfectly justifiable reasons to end a relationship, but others are far more petty than they might even appear.

Lisa Loring, original Wednesday Addams actress, dead at 64 | CNN
Lisa Loring, best known as the first actress to play Wednesday Addams in the original “The Addams Family” sitcom, has died at the age of 64.

OPI to Require Government and Financial Literacy Education for all Montana High School Students - Flathead Beacon
Brad Holloway, principal of Glacier High School, said the added standards will be a smooth transition for the school. The Kalispell Public Schools have had a longstanding government requirement for graduation, and an additional personal finance requirement was recently added at a Jan. 24 school board meeting. Holloway said he does not anticipate needing to hire any new staff, as the district already employs educators qualified to teach personal finance courses.

MrBeast helps 1,000 blind people see again by sponsoring cataract surgeries | CNN
Jeff Levenson, an ophthalmologist and surgeon, worked with Donaldson to perform the first round of surgeries in Jacksonville, Florida. Levenson has coordinated the “Gift of Sight” program for over 20 years, which provides free cataract surgery for uninsured patients who are legally blind due to cataracts.

“Half of all blindness in the world is people who need a 10-minute surgery,” Levenson says in the video, referring to the cataract removal surgery.