The Rock Chalkboard

Kansas basketball's 2 early wins on the road indicative of what's happening throughout the Big 12 so far | KUsports.com Mobile
“Well, it was the best we could do,” KU coach Bill Self said Saturday, when asked to assess how this week went. “I don’t know that it means a ton, but we couldn’t have had a better week than what we did. And I thought we played pretty well in both games.”

Jayhawks have emerged as best team in college basketball by being different from everyone else | KUsports.com Mobile
KU has the most Quad 1 wins in the country with six, and is currently riding an eight-game win streak. Both KenPom and Bart Torvik currently have Kansas ranked No. 5 in their ratings as of Sunday.

No. 21 Kansas women fall to No. 23 Baylor in Top-25 showdown at Allen Fieldhouse | KUsports.com Mobile
Kansas started the game hot, getting into the paint early and often. The Jayhawks were up 11-6 midway into the first quarter before Baylor went on its first run.

Cool under fire: 3rd-ranked Kansas runs past West Virginia, 76-62, in wild atmosphere with a first-half surprise | KUsports.com Mobile
The moment — call it a Mountaineer misfire — was the perfect way to sum up Saturday’s game, which featured all kinds of West Virginia miscues and missed shots and No. 3 Kansas fighting through every one of them to pick up its second road win in Big 12 play so far.

Bits o Chalk

2023 NFL playoffs: Ranking all 14 postseason teams, with Chiefs, Bills headlining Super Bowl contenders - CBSSports.com
The 2022 NFL playoff picture is officially set. After the Lions upset the Packers in dramatic fashion on Sunday night, knocking Green Bay out of postseason contention and elevating the Seahawks into the final wild card spot, the schedule for Super Wild Card Weekend is complete. Now, the real games can begin. The postseason is a fresh slate for 14 contenders, and only time will tell which ones are ready to make a run at the Lombardi. In the meantime, here's how we'd rank them going in:

Game recap: 5 takeaways from Packers’ season-ending loss to Lions
GREEN BAY – The Packers saw their late-season run come up maddeningly short Sunday night, as a 20-16 loss to the Lions at Lambeau Field denied Green Bay a postseason berth.

Brandon Staley plays starters when Chargers' playoff seed is locked, with bad results
Staley played the Chargers' starters in the first three quarters Sunday afternoon and it turned out about as poorly as you'd expect. Austin Ekeler took a massive shot from Denver Broncos linebacker Josey Jewell, along with the normal wear and tear every RB goes through during a game. Joey Bosa, who has missed most of the season due to injury, limped off. Receiver Mike Williams, who has dealt with injuries throughout his career, went down and needed help to get off the field after getting hit. He was later carted to the locker room.

NFL draft order is set: Bears will pick No. 1 while Seahawks, Lions come up big
The Chicago Bears are the big winners (losers?) in the race to the bottom thanks to a wild come-from-behind victory by the Houston Texans on Sunday that included a successful fourth-and-20 Hail Mary and a 2-point conversion in the final minute against the Indianapolis Colts.

Eraser Dust

Brazil Congress: Lula vows to punish supporters of Bolsonaro after riot - BBC News
The dramatic scenes - which saw thousands of protesters clad in yellow Brazil football shirts and flags overrun police and ransack the heart of the Brazilian state - come just a week after Lula's inauguration.

California faces parade of cyclones’; more than 110,000 without power
California is bracing for a "parade of cyclones," forecasters warned Monday morning, as more than 110,000 utility customers woke up without power after torrential downpours and high winds hammered the northern part of the state over the weekend.

Nick Carter Records Song About Late Brother Aaron and Heartbreak Over Death
Nick Carter is putting his feelings about his late brother Aaron Carter on wax -- as they used to say -- writing and recording a song where he sings about their rollercoaster relationship.

The IRS just warned that your tax refund could be 'smaller in 2023' — here are the 2 big reasons why and what you should do to respond
But in 2022, there were no new stimulus checks from the federal government. And some expanded tax credits and deductions, like for charitable gift deductions and child care, have reverted back to pre-pandemic amounts.

Bike, walking paths top Kalispell agenda | Daily Inter Lake
Kalispell City Council will discuss the municipality’s Bicycle and Pedestrian System Plan – part of its larger growth policy – at a work session on Monday.

Local dispensaries see success in first year of recreational marijuana sales | Daily Inter Lake
Through November, retail cannabis sales countywide made almost $30 million, with two-thirds of those sales coming from recreational marijuana and the remainder from medicinal products, according to data from the Montana Department of Revenue