Mountaineer Morning Links: Wednesday (2/18/14) Edition

More on Kansas win, bracketology, football & recruiting notes, women take on OSU tonight, WVUPros, Big 12 roundup & more.

By WVUIE97@WVUIE97 Feb 18, 2015, 8:49am EST

Welcome, By-Godders, to the Shotgun/Throwdown, WVU's best place for sports links, information, sophomoric humor and daily distractions. We're being brought to you today by St. Benedict's Winter Ale.

What You May Have Missed:

Lyons settles in at WVU - Parkersburg News and Sentinel
In his journeys as an athletic administrator, Shane Lyons has experienced the highs and lows. He figures that’s the nature of the job.

WVU Hosts Oklahoma State on Wednesday - WVU Athletics
WVU women's basketball opens a two-game homestand with Oklahoma State.

West Virginia takes on Oklahoma State tonight, five games left in the regular season - Daily Athenaeum
West Virginia will likely need to win at least four out of its last five games to be considered for a tournament berth, but the schedule is favorable.

Mountaineers meet Oklahoma State - Exponent Telegram
Fans are encouraged to wear pink in support of breast cancer awareness.

VIDEO INTERVIEWS: WVU Women Prepare for Oklahoma State - WVillustrated
Watch full video interviews with WVU Women's Coach Mike Carey and his players prior to their game against Oklahoma State.

Golf Heads South for Winter Trip - WVU Athletics
The WVU golf team traveled to Florida for a winter practice session.

FURFARI: Several odds and ends on sports that may interest you - Times West Virginian
Stringing together some odds and ends about sports items that may be of interest to you:

News of Note:

Mountaineers Sign a Secret Weapon - WVU Athletics
Catch the first glance of WVU’s newest, hot-shot from Middlebourne, West Virginia. Five-year-old Nicholas, diagnosed with hypoplastic left heart syndrome, has wished to be a Mountaineer basketball player. On February 24, he will be joining this talented team to tear up the court against the Texas Longhorns at 7 p.m.

Men's Hoop Blog: Living on the Edge - WVU Athletics
On a knife's edge between two pools of fire.

WVU can weather storm because of KU win - Charleston Daily Mail
Consider West Virginia’s 62-61 triumph over No. 8 Kansas a good old-fashioned bread-and-milk win — an essential to help weather the storm.

‘That was the play we wanted’ - WVU Sports with Mike Casazza
So many things happened in the final 30 seconds Monday night, things we’ll attempt to cover and spotlight here, things that get lost in the shadow of Juwan Staten’s offense and defense in the last 8.3 ticks.

Apologies to Staten, but it was Irvin’s night - WVU Sports with Mike Casazza
And you thought West Virginia needed that one?

Yes, (Press) Virginia, the ugly game still works - Charleston Gazette
Bob Huggins was loath to admit it, but Juwan Staten wasn’t. West Virginia’s basketball team was slumping. Badly.

Senior Juwan Staten leads Mountaineers to crucial win over No. 8 Kansas Jayhawks Monday night - Daily Athenaeum
It was senior guard Juwan Staten who played the hero in the Mountaineers’ win.

Staten stellar in win over Kansas - Exponent Telegram
the signature written all over it was Staten’s.

Carter shows poise beyond his years - Daily Athenaeum
"Jevon, that’s my young bull. I’ve got a lot of confidence in him. I’m always talking to him, letting him know: Shoot the ball. Shoot the ball," Staten said.

Carter not a typical freshman - Exponent Telegram
The situation was not one you would normally think about turning the game — and maybe your season — over to a freshman.

How'd the Mountaineers pull off the upset over the No. 8 Jayhawks? - Beckley Register-Herald
In the hours that proceeded West Virginia’s men’s basketball win over No. 8 Kansas Monday night, I’ve heard three questions over and over from Mountaineer fans.

Carter, B. Williams react to WVU win over KU - BGN
West Virginia came up big Monday night with a 62-61 win against No. 8 Kansas at the Coliseum.

Bracketology: N.C. State and Purdue crash the party - SBNation.com
6 South

Bracketology - ESPN
8 Midwest

Bubble Watch: Pac-12 foes UCLA, Oregon battling for at-large bids - SI.com
IN THE MIX

Bracket Watch - SI.com
7 West

March Madness bracket: The battle to avoid No. 1 Kentucky Wildcats is heating up - FOX Sports
7 Midwest

Wearing the Jersey: Gary Browne - WVU Athletics
Senior guard Gary Browne had a chance to play in front of his home country this season. Watch him describe the feeling on this week's Wearing the Jersey

Football

Big 12 pre-spring position rankings: LB - Big 12 Blog - ESPN
4. West Virginia

Future schedules: Best nonconference matchups 2015-28 - Sporting News
Several WVU games (not 2015) on this list

NFL Network’s Mayock favors Kevin White’s upside over Amari Cooper - WV MetroNews
Both receivers are considered top-20 picks entering this week's NFL combine.

Nine Big 12 names to watch at the NFL Combine - FOX Sports
Kevin White, WR, West Virginia

2015 NFL Mock Draft 9.0 - Scout
12 Cleveland Browns Kevin White

Recruiting:

Signing day has come and gone, but it’s still a busy time for WVU recruiters - Charleston Gazette
Over the last three years, the Mountaineers have extended an average of 40 offers to future classes during the latter weeks of February.

Pro News:

Is Dreamius Smith a NFL running back? - WVUPros
There are other Mountaineers that graduated this season and could potentially make an impact in the NFL. One name that won't be a focal point is running back Dreamius Smith.