Kentucky Wildcats Morning Quickies: Billy Casper Edition

Golfing great Billy Casper has died at 83 years old. I grew up watching him play, and although he played in the shadow of Jack Nicklaus, Arnold Palmer and Gary Player, he was a force in professional golf.

He had been married to his wife Shirley for 62 years. Rest in peace, Billy.

Tweet of the Morning

People asking Palm about bubble teams becoming "locks." You're only a lock when you can lose all the rest of your games and still make it.

— Michael DeCourcy (@tsnmike) February 9, 2015

Well, what do you think? Do you think Kentucky could lose all their games from here on out and be invited? That would put them at 23-9, assuming they lost their first SEC Tournament game.

Your Quickies:

Kentucky football

• Be sure to read Will’s latest if you haven’t already.

• Mark Stoops is just one of many coaches who experience a recruiting boost when they replace a fired coach. This article shows just how big that boost has been, and though Stoops isn’t at the top, he’s in the top five.

Kentucky basketball

• Phil Mushnick of the New York Post doesn’t get Kentucky fans. Well, that’s okay, Phil. You have to be a part of it to get it, I guess.

• LSU can focus on Kentucky now that they got back on track beating Alabama.

• John Gasaway asks if this years’ Kentucky team is better than 2012. Offensively, they aren’t as efficient. Defensively, they are much more efficient. As of right now, yes they are better, and significantly so. But there is a lot of season left.

• Willie Cauley-Stein misses the freak athleticism of Alex Poythress. So do I, but what I really miss is his willingness to be physical.

• Why they hate John Calipari outside of Kentucky. The "one and done" is just an excuse, in my opinion. Calipari is a brash winner, and most people dislike brash winners unless their fans of the team. They’ll justify it in every possible way, and the "one and done" has been debunked so many times only a truly ignorant person would hold it out as a reason — which is probably why you see it so often.

Other Kentucky sports

• Hoops gets a big road win over Vanderbilt. Linae Harper led the way with 22 points.

• After losing to #5 Florida State on Saturday, the Hittin’ Kittens came back and beat them yesterday.

Links posts

• The Leach Report: Monday Wildcat Links

• Rush The Court: Morning Five

College football

• Signs of a UAB football resurrection continue to show up.

College basketball

• SECBasketballFever says Kentucky got help from the officials in Florida. I didn’t quite see it that way, I thought both teams got calls that went for and against them. The traveling call late in the game was certainly suspect on replay, but so were a couple of fouls that Kentucky allegedly committed on Florida.

• The eye-poking will continue until somebody gives a crap.

• Florida plans to "build off the loss to Kentucky." Florida has looked horrible all year, but they were certainly not horrible against UK. Perhaps this will get them going.

• The Tarheel Blog remembers the life of Dean Smith.

Other sports news

• The Big Cuz hits a game winner. Not as pretty as Anthony Davis’ the other day, but just as effective.

  Hat tip: Kentucky Sports Radio.

• Tiger in winter.

• Anthony Davis is the best player in the NBA, and he’s only 21 years old. I think he deserves the MVP this season, but he probably won’t get it.

Other news

• Boston is "running out of space" for more snow. Rough winter up there.

• Hot peppers can prevent obesity.

• This is what a spiral galaxy looks like from the edge.