West Virginia comes up short against Gonzaga on the final possession

Welcome, By-Godders, to the Shotgun Throwdown your one stop shop for the latest WVU news and information, sophomoric humor and daily distractions.

So, last night’s game didn’t exactly go as planned and our tournament run ends in the Sweet Sixteen this year. Of course, that means all the news today is pretty much the same from everyone. That means I’m going quick hit with it again today, but I want to spend a minute on it myself.

I’ve seen a lot of people blaming the loss on the officiating, and I can’t really get behind that argument. Yes, the officiating was terrible. It took nearly five minutes to get the out-of-bounds call at the 1:59 mark right. The TV crew was able to make the call themselves in less than five seconds. It was bad. BUT, West Virginia shot 27% from the field and lost by three. 27%. That loss is solely on us. Make your shots and we’re playing the No. 11 seed on Saturday. I’m still all for firing that officiating crew into the sun, because they were in fact terrible, but you have to be realistic and see that we didn’t help ourselves either.

The future is bright though. I keep telling myself that one year we’re going to get over this hump. Next year may be the year.

Quick Hits:
WVU comes up short against Gonzaga in Sweet Sixteen | Charleston Gazette-Mail
West Virginia’s season ended Thursday at a time no one on the floor in blue or in the stands in gold wanted but also in a fashion that could not have been unexpected.

Bittersweet 16: WVU loses on final possession, 61-58 | The Exponent Telegram
Despite a heroic performance from Jevon Carter, West Virginia could not overcome its inability to put the ball in the basket and dropped a heartwrenching 61-58 decision to top-seeded Gonzaga to be eliminated in the Sweet 16 of the West Regional in the NCAA tournament Thursday night in San Jose.

Battling Mountaineers Come Up Short | WVU Athletics
Jordan Mathews’ 3-pointer from the corner with 59 seconds left helped propel No. 1-seeded Gonzaga to a 61-58 victory over West Virginia in an NCAA West regional semifinal game Thursday afternoon at the SAP Center in San Jose, California.

Mountaineers Prepped for Furman Intercollegiate | WVU Athletics
Hot off their record-setting rounds at the Seminole Intercollegiate, the Mountaineer golf team will look to continue the momentum today in Greenville, South Carolina for the Furman Intercollegiate. They’re paired up with Virginia Tech in the first round, so another record breaking round would be that much better.

The Big 12 is down to just two teams left in the tournament, and that could change again this evening if the Baylor Bears can’t get past the peaking South Carolina Gamecocks. The Kansas Jayhawks absolutely destroyed Purdue yesterday evening and they’re cruising into the Elite Eight, where they’ll take on Oregon.

And that there is basically the news for the day, so I’m going quick hit in this section again as well. Post-game hangovers suck.

Quick Hits:
Kansas has dominant second half, beats Purdue 98-66 | SB Nation
Kansas scored 51 points in the second half, and overall the Jayhawks notched a whopping 15 three-pointers, shooting 54 percent from beyond the arc. Purdue had just 26 points in the second half.

Oregon holds off Michigan 69-68, survives yet another upset bid | SB Nation
The Ducks had just a two-point lead over the Wolverines at halftime, and it remained close in the second half, but they were able to hold off the Wolverines’ late-scoring effort at the very end.

No. 11 Xavier upsets No. 2 Arizona 73-71 in Sweet 16 | SB Nation
I’m launching an investigation into Bill Murray’s impact on big games. He’s in attendance at the World Series, his Cubs win. He’s there in the Sweet Sixteen, his Muskateers pull off the upset. Something fishy is going on, if you ask me.

Today, more than any other day, we need a healthy dose of daily distractions. So, I want to officially announce that from this point forward, the Smoking Musket #SummerOfContent is officially underway. What does that mean, you ask? It means we’ve got some special stuff planned to get us through to September when we all get our hopes up for a miracle season again.

We’ve already announced Mountaineer Science Theater 3000. That should be debuting shortly after the annual Gold-Blue Spring Game next month. But you can also look forward to our upcoming West Virginia Brewery Review Tour, our coverage of Noel Devine’s attempt at an NFL return in The Spring League, our Summer blockbuster reviews and our Big Brother recaps. Yes, we’re going to be recapping Big Brother. If everyone else can claim The Bachelor is sports, we can definitely make our argument for Big Brother.

Of course, on top of all of that, we’ll still have our regular coverage and analysis of everything leading up to the start of football season. But we’re going to have some fun this summer, because I don’t know how we can handle another year of the depressing summer doldrums.

All of that starts after the Spring game so, to get through today’s depression, enjoy these blockbuster trailers.

Okay, so these are all probably going to be terrible. BUT LOOK AT THE POTENTIAL!

Today’s Miss Throwdown is the 2015 Miss USA. She’s also appeared in Ted, Hot Tub Time Machine 2, and that awful Kevin James MMA movie. That doesn’t distract from her hotness though. Go follow Olivia Jordan on Instagram for a bunch of bikini pictures and stuff of that nature. It may help with the post-game depression, or send you spiraling even deeper. I can’t guarantee anything.