Skyler Howard Aiming High For 2016 After Bowl MVP Performance

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

Football:

Skyler Howard aims high after bowl MVP for West Virginia Mountaineers | ESPN
QB Skyler Howard is hoping his stellar bowl outing to cap his 2015 season is just a prelude to a 2016 campaign full of big things at West Virginia.

Basketball:

Gold nuggets and a clarification from WVU’s Huggins | Charleston Gazette-Mail
Sometimes getting information from WVU basketball coach Bob Huggins is like pulling teeth. But sometimes — just sometimes — you find gold when you finally do pull those teeth.

Carey Adds Coaching Veteran Richardson to Staff | WVU Athletics
West Virginia University women’s basketball coach Mike Carey announced the hiring of Diane Richardson as assistant coach/recruiting coordinator on Thursday. Richardson spent the last four seasons as an assistant for George Washington University.

Baseball:

WVU Hosts Longhorns in Pivotal Big 12 Series | WVU Athletics
In the final Big 12 home series of the season, the West Virginia University baseball team welcomes Texas to Monongalia County Ballpark from May 6-8.

WVU hosts Texas in key Big 12 baseball series | Charleston Gazette-Mail
The West Virginia baseball team’s final Big 12 home series of the season begins Friday night with the first of three games that aim to influence the top of the conference standings. Manager Randy Mazey wants and needs as many friendly voices as possible in the stands at Monongalia County Ballpark.

West Virginia Athletics:

Lyons: Big 12 Membership Means Doing a Little More | WVU Athletics
A message from WVU director of athletics Shane Lyons.

Around The Big XII:

Big 12 roundtable: Expansion | ESPN
In this week's Big 12 roundtable, we discuss -- what else? -- Big 12 expansion. Should the league grow this summer?

Ranking Big 12 expansion candidates by ... whatever, just pick 2 and get it over with | SBNation
Just please do something already. Here are two or a dozen or whatever teams you can add any day now.

Around The NCAA:

The Houston Cougars were good (and lucky) in 2015. Expectations are now sky-high | SBNation
Thirteen wins raised the bar awfully high, and if the pointy football bounces differently in 2016, Houston could both improve its play and disappoint at the same time.

College football relegation! Here's how conferences would change for 2016 | SBNation
What if college football teams had to earn the right to play in the best conferences? You know, like soccer. Here's a pair of updates on the concept after the 2015 season.

UAB's football hiatus didn't stop 4 former players from making it to the NFL | SBNation
UAB shut down its football program last year, forcing players to transfer to other schools to get a shot in the NFL.

Texas A&M was already struggling to recruit. An assistant's tweets made it worse | SBNation
Texas A&M was already struggling to recruit. An assistant subtweeting after an elite QB commitment dropped the Aggies won't help things.

Today's Miss Throwdown is a Brazilian model and one of many hopefuls for Sports Illustrated's 2017 Swimsuit Edition. CLICK HERE for Anne De Paula's Instagram.