Kentucky Sports: Sunday Brunch -- Off The Bubble Edition

The Wildcats got the big win they were needing yesterday, and the Big Blue Nation breathes a sigh of relief. But they still have more work to do.

Tweet of the Morning:

Not going to lie, I'm exhausted but those are the types of games you get into this job to write about. Tremendous night of sport at Rupp.

— Matt May (@TCPMattMay) February 24, 2013

Indeed.

Your Quickies:

Kentucky football

• Mark Stoops: My offensive coordinator had to have a plan

• Stoops is Changing UK’s Recruiting Culture // Southern Pigskin

  At the end of the day, Stoops still faces an uphill battle to lead the Wildcats to potential SEC East contention, but one thing has become very clear: Kentucky is no longer content with playing second fiddle to the remainder of the conference.

  That does indeed seem to be the case.

Kentucky basketball

• Calipari says all Kentucky has to do is "take care of our business" rest of season // vaughtsviews

  "The next game on our schedule is the biggest game on our schedule, the next one. Everybody wants to talk the NCAA tournament. I’m going to tell you what I said. It’s a Bell curve, folks. They’re going to take 68 teams. They’re not going to say, This year we’re taking 46. So that means some teams that have F’s are passing. It’s a Bell curve," Calipari said.

• Believe it: Cats finally become 'empowered' in big win over Mizzou // CoachCal.com

  "What I’ve been trying to tell them all year," Calipari said. " ‘Guys, if you miss a shot or turn it over or break down defensively, forget about it and just keep battling.’ They did a lot of that today."

  This is a very good point. There were a lot of breakdowns, but for once, very little hanging of the heads. That's a very promising development.

• UK plays tougher, gets better in 90-83 OT win over MU // WDRB 41 Louisville

  UK is playing better basketball. Let me specify. UK is playing better on offense. It is finding a few scoring answers. Poythress got the ball on the wing and did something with it. It was as if UK coach John Calipari ordered wings with beast sauce. He backed defenders down. He went by them. He scored 21 points on 8-of-10 shooting.

  Kentucky is indeed playing better offensively. Defensively, it is playing significantly worse. But the combination is still producing wins

• Kentucky-Missouri notes: Calipari credits crowd for pushing Cats over the top // Kentucky.com
  The crowd was a significant factor. It is one of the loudest games at Rupp I can recall recently, and they really got their money's worth.

• Saturday Bubble Busting: Who helped, who hurt tourney chances? // CollegeBasketballTalk

  Five Biggest Winners: Kentucky: Quite a turnaround from last Saturday, eh? The Wildcats knocked off Missouri in overtime on Gameday, picking up their best win of the season and, thanks to Ole Miss losing to South Carolina, giving them their only top 50 win.

• Saturday's bubble winners, losers and more // ESPN

  In the end, though, Missouri is just Kentucky's first top-50 RPI win. The Wildcats' admission into the tournament is far from settled.

  This is absolutely right. But at least Kentucky is, right now, a viable candidate. They have to continue to win, but they will have opportunities.
• John Clay: Kentucky enjoys growth spurt right when it's needed most // Kentucky.com
• Dear Julius // Chris Diggs – UK Fan Blog
• "GameDay" personalities weigh in on UK, Cats fans // Kyle Tucker – UK Beat

• The biggest Big Blue donors: Find out who donates the most to Kentucky sports // Kentucky.com

  For $100,000 a year — and sometimes much more — Big Blue Nation's biggest donors get special perks, including access to prime seats, practices and news conferences.

• Kentucky's collective effort leads Wildcats to must-have win over Missouri // Sporting News

  On this night, however, they were exactly the – dare we say it? – team they needed to be. Yes, they were a team. They were not a collection of McDonald’s All-Americans and projected lottery picks.

  Indeed. We could use a lot more of this.

Other UK sports

• Weaver Collects Win as No. 20 Softball Rolls Georgetown 8-0 // UKAthletics.com
• Cally Macumber Wins SEC 3,000-Meter Championship // UKAthletics.com

Links posts

• Kentucky Sports Radio // Sunday Morning Dancing Links
• John Clay's Big Blue Links // Sidelines
• Tom Leach // Sunday Links

College basketball

• Oregon State freshman gets technical for dunking pregame, Beavers lose by 1 to Cal // CollegeBasketballTalk

  In pregame layup lines, Schaftenaar dunked which, as harmless as it may sound, is a technical foul. Cal’s Allen Crabbe was given two free throws and he hit one of two. That made the score 1-0 when the game tipped off moments later.

  So his technical foul provided the margin of defeat? Ouch.
• SEC: A wild day of overtime hoops // John Clay's Sidelines

Other sports news

• Drivers prep for Daytona 500 race after 33 fans injured in speedway crash // Fox News

• Kings Blog and Q&A: Catching up with Patrick Patterson

  "Pretty must just frustration at first, disappointment. I was sad. Those were my initial thoughts and emotions. But as time went on, I cooled off, got level headed. Now I'm good, I'm excited."

  I don't blame him. He saw himself as a big part of Houston's success.

• Packers: Randall Cobb's days may be numbered as returner // CBSSports.com

  Still, from McCarthy's perspective, it's difficult to risk putting one of your most dynamic offensive players in harm's way on kickoffs and punts. Few teams are willing to assume such a risk -- the Baltimore Ravens using the league's top returner, wide receiver Jacoby Jones, are one notable exception -- and it would appear the Packers would much rather use a less prominent player for the duty.

  I had a feeling this was coming. Cobb is becoming too valuable to Green Bay to return kickoffs.