Depth May Be West Virginia's Best Asset

Welcome, By-Godders, to the Shotgun/Throwdown, WVU's best place for sports links, information, sophomoric humor and daily distractions.

Basketball:

Depth may be WVU's best asset | The Exponent Telegram
If you look at West Virginia’s basketball team, man for man, it doesn’t have the marquee players that other teams have. No Buddy Hield, no Perry Ellis, no Rico Gathers. This, as the world has come to see by now, doesn’t hold the Mountaineers back. They are, in reality, every coach’s dream because they define the concept of team.

WVU’s Phillip finds comfort zone | Charleston Gazette-Mail
On the day Phillip signed, Huggins predicted Phillip would be "very instrumental in our quest to become a great defensive team again." After his heroics against the Red Raiders, the Mountaineers coach praised Phillip’s courage.

WVU needs to find junior forward soon | Beckley Register-Herald
Devin Williams is not an easy guy to miss. Search the entire Mountain State, and you’re unlikely to find more than one 6-foot-9, 255-pound college student wearing athletic goggles and a "Flying WV" on his shirt. They just don’t pop up on every corner like a Little General or an ATV shop. But the Mountaineer basketball team has been missing its gentle giant recently and is doing everything in its power to get him back into the action.

Adrian shows promise in first start of season | The Daily Athenaeum
Fans booed when Adrian’s name was announced in the starting lineup as a replacement for the injured Esa Ahmad. Everyone expected very little, but he bounced back in impressive fashion.

No. 21 Oklahoma rallies to beat No. 24 WVU women | Charleston Gazette-Mail
Peyton Little scored all of her 23 points in the second half and No. 21 Oklahoma rallied to beat No. 24 West Virginia 57-54 Wednesday night.

WVU squanders lead, falls to Sooners | The Exponent Telegram
The No. 24-ranked West Virginia University women’s basketball team held a 16-point lead in the first half, but couldn’t overcome a second half surge by Oklahoma, as the No. 21 Sooners won, 57-54, at the Lloyd Noble Center on Wednesday evening.

Carey on WVU losing 16-point lead at Oklahoma: ‘We gave that game away’ | WV MetroNews
No. 24 West Virginia built an early 16-point lead only to see 20th-ranked Oklahoma rally behind Peyton Little for a 57-54 win on Wednesday night in women’s basketball.

West Virginia Athletics:

Former WVU runner, state native Santucci prepares for Olympic trials | Charleston Gazette-Mail
Clara Grandt Santucci, who grew up in rural Doddridge County and was an All-American runner at WVU, will compete in the United States Olympic marathon trials on Feb. 13 in Los Angeles.

Around The NCAA:

Duke is learning you can't bank on one-and-dones every year | SBNation
Without Amile Jefferson, Duke is off to a staggering .500 start in ACC play. This isn't supposed to happen to arguably the country's best recruiter.

SHUTDOWN FULLCAST 4.2: THE CAM NEWTON ECONOMY EDITION | Every Day Should Be Saturday
WHERE WE DISCUSS HOW CAM NEWTON IS AN ENTIRE ECONOMY BY HIMSELF, HOW BAD PHIL SIMMS IS AT EVERYTHING, AND WARIO'S FAMILY ISSUES

The Solid Verbal: ESPN's Rece Davis like you've never, ever heard him | SBNation
Time to deep dive with one of college football's most likable humans.

Kyzir White could be the last, best of the White brothers in Morgantown | The Daily Athenaeum
Scranton, Pennsylvania’s Lackawanna College, 325 miles from Morgantown, West Virginia, has provided the West Virginia University football team with plenty of talent over the years – but its greatest gift has undoubtedly been the White family.

What are the differences between redshirting, grayshirting, blueshirting and greenshirting in college football? | SBNation
There is a lot of 'shirts in college football. Here's what they mean.

There is a 1.5 million square mile recruiting wasteland without any 2016 5-star recruits | SBNation
I'm beginning to sense a trend here.

2016 College Football Recruits All-Name Team, led by Dicaprio Bootle and Lil'Jordan Humphrey | SBNation
Historical references. Lots of Qs and Zs. A Minnesota night terror. JANGO GLACKIN. We're here to celebrate poetry, and this team has it.

Today's Miss Throwdown is a model, actress and Miss USA 2015. CLICK HERE for Olivia Jordan's Instagram.

A photo posted by Olivia Jordan (@theoliviajordan) on Jan 19, 2016 at 7:41am PST