Mountaineer Morning Links: Thursday (2/5/14) Edition

Signing Day features, hoops notes, Women win, WVUPros updates, Big 12 roundup & more.

By WVUIE97@WVUIE97 Feb 5, 2015, 9:14am 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 the Southern Tier Brewing Company's Old Man Winter Ale.

What You May Have Missed:

Gold & Blue Now: Thursday, Feb. 5 - WV MetroNews
Greg Hunter joins the set to recap the 2015 recruiting class for WVU, and the importance of signing WR Gary Jennings. Brad and Garrett also take a look back at the basketball team’s blowout loss in Norman on Tuesday.

West Virginia Holds Off TCU - WVU Athletics
The West Virginia University women’s basketball team withstood a late comeback attempt from TCU to collect a 76-71 win over the Horned Frogs at the WVU Coliseum on Wednesday evening.

WATCH: WVU Women Earn 76-71 Win Over TCU - WVillustrated
WVU women's basketball coaches and players spoke with the media following their 76-71 win over TCU on Wednesday night in Morgantown.

WVU Women's Soccer 2015 National Signing Day - WVUSports.com
Bios for the Ladies

WVU Men's Soccer 2015 National Signing Day - WVUSports.com
Bios for the men

News of Note:

WVU derailed by various issues, and stronger schedule awaits - Charleston Daily Mail
There are so many ways to look at No. 15 West Virginia’s loss Tuesday and explain it away by saying it was one of those nights for the Mountaineers.

WVU must stay hungry down the stretch - Charleston Gazette
Browne calls it hunger, and that’s a pretty good term for a team that — because of its relentless style and more than almost any in the country — has to want to win more than any team it plays.

Mountaineers had no answer for Sooners - Exponent Telegram
“It’s like when you drink bad medicine and you don’t like it,” senior guard Gary Browne told reporters

WVU’s poor shooting deterring press - Daily Athenaeum
The loss was definitely discouraging, considering the first team to make West Virginia’s press look inadequate is the same team the Mountaineers beat by 21 points in January.

Recruiting/National Signing Day Hangover:

Holgorsen Media Conference: Signing Day - WVU Athletics
West Virginia head coach Dana Holgorsen met with members of the media earlier today to discuss the 2015 recruiting class. (video embedded below is different)

WVU Football 2015 National Signing Day - WVUSports.com
Bios for the entire singed class

Football Blog: Highs and Lows of Recruiting - WVU Athletics
When it comes to recruiting, these dramatic swings of the pendulum take place just about everywhere else as well.

WVU weathers ups and downs of Signing Day - Charleston Daily Mail
The ebbs and flows of National Signing Day can be taxing on football coaches, especially when there is more time spent lamenting the ones that got away than celebrating the gets.

WVU addresses size on the outside with signings - Charleston Daily Mail
The biggest additions to West Virginia’s roster Wednesday, if not in stature than in profile, figure to play cornerback and receiver in the future.

NLI: West Virginia signing day - Charleston Gazette
"Our numbers are just so healthy right now," Holgorsen said. "We’ll have 71 [scholarship] guys in spring football."

Holgorsen's latest recruiting class may be his best - Pittsburgh Post-Gazette
In the end, it was a happy crowd of coaches in the Milan Puskar Center war room. Eighteen recruits faxed in national letters of intent, joining five others who enrolled at West Virginia in January.

Holgs Talks 2015 Class, Recruit Shenanigans and In-State Talent - EerSports
"We're not interested in getting guys that are committed and want to take a bunch of trips," said Holgorsen. "So we shut that down."

Holgorsen: Mountaineers more ‘selective’ with 33rd-ranked recruiting class - WV MetroNews
West Virginia didn't match its best-ever grade, as some projected last year, but Rivals scored it as the Big 12's third-best class.

Holgorsen mostly happy with recruiting class - Exponent Telegram
It had been a good day, as national signing days go for West Virginia University. Good, not great.

WR Jennings among surprise signings for Mountaineers - Charleston Gazette
“He was the last piece of the puzzle,’’ Holgorsen said. “He was a high priority.’’

Two WVU walk-ons lead local signees - Beckley Register-Herald: Prep Zone
For years, the Woodrow Wilson football team has had an impressive pipeline that ran directly to Huntington and Marshall University.

Signing Day - Parkersburg News and Sentinel
Program leans on Florida connection, lands familiar names

UL’s McKivitz Inks With West Virginia - Intelligencer / Wheeling News-Register
You never know what kind of impression you leave on someone when you first meet.

WVU Invades Florida - Intelligencer / Wheeling News-Register
It’s always sunny in Morgantown

National Football Signing Day - Martinsburg Journal
When Deamonte Lindsay attended a camp last summer at West Virginia, the Mountaineer coaching staff kind of pitched a tent for the Martinsburg senior by offering him a scholarship to join the football team.

WVU hits familiar territory for 23-man recruiting class - Beckley Register-Herald: Sports
When West Virginia first became a Big 12 Conference member, all the talk was about expanding recruiting territories into the Big 12 country of Texas and Oklahoma.

Big 12 Signing Day: What you need to know - FOX Sports
3. West Virginia

"He was the one we wanted. He was the one we targeted." - EerSports
West Virginia picked up only one commitment (and, eventually, a signature) at the linebacker position in the Class of 2015.

On signing day, Holgorsen also pleased with what he doesn't have - Pittsburgh Tribune Review
In other words, the Mountaineers have been landing a better brand of football player.

Gibson: Signees Filling Gaps in Defense - EerSports
With so much talent coming back, though, it did make things a little tougher recruiting prospects on that side of the ball.

Tony Gibson's Take: WVU's 2015 Class - BGN
Tony Gibson's defense has its identity. Now, it has started to add to that with superior depth and talent, the latest infusion of which came on Wednesday, when West Virginia finalized the latest of a `10-player defensive class.

WVU wide receiver recruit has academic issues - Pittsburgh Tribune Review
Former Miramar coach Matt Strout has alleged that Durante was among players who were academically ineligible all of last season but whose grades were fixed to allow them to compete.

Recruiting process full of ups and downs - Exponent Telegram
“A lot of times you lose out on kids because Mom or Dad don’t want them to go to your school because they like somewhere different. So you have to approach each one differently.”

WATCH: WVU Football Assistants Talk about Newest Mountaineer Sig - WVillustrated
Galloway & Gibson

WVSports.com TV: Signing Day Interviews - WVSports.com
Gibby, Mitchell, Seider, Crook & Galloway

Which Schools Make The Most Out Of Their Recruits - Brobible
Now that National Signing Day has officially come to a close, it's time to take a look at which schools extract the most value out of their recruits.

Pro News:

Da'Sean Butler discusses his journey through life that has led him back to the court - WVUPros
Butler was a second-round draft pick of the Miami Heat, and played for teams in Latvia, the NBA D-League and Belgium, having three knee surgeries along the way.

Jock Sanders signs extension with the Calgary Stampeders - WVUPros
After proving himself to be one of the top kick returners in the CFL, Jock Sanders has signed a contract extension with the Calgary Stampeders

Ryan McBroom biding his time while working on his game - WVUPros
McBroom is looking at his second season in the minor leagues after a successful first go-around.