West Virginia Mountaineers Help Lifelong Fan Fulfill Her Final Wishes

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

Football:

For many West Virginia University Mountaineer fans, their happy place is Mountaineer Field at Milan Puskar Stadium. Such is the case for one special, lifelong WVU football fan - Donna Tucker. A native of Charleston, West Virginia, Ms. Tucker, 79, was diagnosed with terminal lung cancer just last week. Ms. Tucker's family immediately rallied behind their beloved "Memaw," and began a mission to fulfill one of her final wishes - to attend one more WVU football game in Morgantown.

The Mountaineers have been sneaky good on defense, particularly in the past two seasons. After Tony Gibson took over as defensive coordinator before the 2014 season, West Virginia's 53 red-zone defensive efficiency percentage is narrowly second behind conference leader TCU's 52.7 percentage.

Basketball:

West Virginia's Bob Huggins spent eight minutes of his Wednesday morning participating on the summer Big 12 Conference coaches' teleconference. Of the five questions Huggins answered today, only one pertained to his current team.

West Virginia Athletics:

West Virginia University sophomore Ginny Thrasher continued her win streak at the 2016 USA Shooting National Championships for Rifle/Pistol (USASNC), collecting four medals and three national titles in one of her final tune-ups for the 2016 Rio Summer Olympic Games.

Former West Virginia University track and field and cross country student-athlete Sarah-Anne Brault has punched her ticket to the 2016 Olympic Games in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil, as a member of the Canadian Triathlon Team, announced on Wednesday.

Around The Big 12:

Preseason camp has not begun, so making predictions might seem pointless. Some of ESPN's annual Big 12 season predictions in the past have been on the money, while others have been way off base. But why should that stop them? Over the next couple of weeks ESPN will be making predictions for every Big 12 game this season. Here is Week 2 and Week 3.

Our friends over at Land Grant Gauntlet have let their imaginations run wild to cure our boredom. If Big 12 schools were bands, who would they be?

Around The NCAA:

You already know the likely favorites, so SB Nation's Peter Berkes picks one sneaky contender for each Power 5 conference and looks at the Group of 5.

In the latest Podcast Ain't Played Nobody, Bill and Godfrey talk about disappointing Pac-12 teams, why everyone's high on Washington, what happens if Charlie Strong goes 6-6 (or 9-4), and the first time an offensive line blew you away.

Cal improved dramatically in 2014 and 2015, and Dykes got a contract extension in December. But there's probably a setback coming for the Golden Bears in 2016.

Today's Miss Throwdown is Playboy's Miss January 2015. CLICK HERE for Brittny Ward's Instagram.