The Shotgun/Throwdown (10/22/18): Press Virginia “alive and well” as Konate adds three-pointer to his repertoire

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

Football

Grier deserves some blame — but not all — for offensive play | Times West Virginian
hey say practice makes perfect. They also say no one is perfect. So what do you do when you practice in an attempt to get as close to perfection as you can, dedicate yourself to that chase, and a day crops up where nothing goes right?

Why Rex Sunahara wanted to be a long snapper at West Virginia | WV MetroNews
When Reed Sunahara stood in the Milan Puskar Stadium stands to watch West Virginia play Kansas, it marked an important family milestone. For the first time ever, he was able to watch in person as his son Rex took the field as the Mountaineers’ long snapper.

Football puts focus on Georgia | Charleston Gazette-Mail
It’s become commonplace these days to hear about West Virginia University’ football program recruiting in Georgia. During the open week, that was no different. While the coaching staff spread out around the country, assistant coaches Doug Belk and Tyron Carrier made plenty of waves with several new offers in the Peach State during the open week.

Basketball

Sagaba Konate returns ready to help lead Mountaineers | Charleston Gazette-Mail
West Virginia University’s Sagaba Konate became a household name for college basketball fans last season by throwing block parties, often of the two-handed variety, at rims around the country as he led the Big 12 with 116 blocked shots.

Sagaba Konate is adding three-point shooting to his defensive game | WV MetroNews
Sagaba Konate’s facial expression and demeanor doesn’t change when the topic turns to him shooting 3-pointers.

WVU basketball shows flashes of talent in Gold-Blue Debut | Charleston Gazette-Mail
West Virginia head basketball coach Bob Huggins took the microphone before his team’s annual Gold-Blue Debut on Friday night, and proclaimed that “Press Virginia is alive and well.”

WVU basketball picked to finish 3rd in Big 12 | Charleston Gazette-Mail
The West Virginia University men’s basketball team is looking up at a pair of Kansas schools in the Big 12 preseason poll.

5-star center Tshiebwe: Huggins ‘is going to treat me like his son and push me every day’ | WV MetroNews
For 36 seasons the recruiting battles for West Virginia basketball coach Bob Huggins have involved phone calls, in-home visits and across-the-country scouting trips in search of players.

West Virginia Athletics

Offense Drives No. 16 Mountaineers to Win | West Virginia Athletics
A pair of braces from seniors Hannah Abraham and Bianca St. Georges propelled the No. 16-ranked West Virginia University women's soccer team to a 4-1 victory at Oklahoma Sunday afternoon at John Crain Field.

Mountaineers Upend No. 20 SIUE | West Virginia Athletics
A dominating second half helped the West Virginia University men's soccer team maintain its place atop the Mid-American Conference with a 5-1 victory over No. 20 SIU Edwardsville on Saturday night at Dick Dlesk Soccer Stadium.

No. 3 WVU Sweeps with Season-High Score | West Virginia Athletics
A season-best showing in smallbore helped push the No. 3-ranked West Virginia University rifle team to a winning, season-high 4712 showing Sunday at the Bill McKenzie Rifle Range inside the WVU Coliseum.

WVU Closes Tournament Finale | West Virginia Athletics
Led by three singles wins in the tournament finale, the West Virginia University tennis team concluded the Martha Thorn Mountaineer Invitational on Sunday at the Summit Tennis Academy in Morgantown.

Sear Bogey-Free in First Round of Tavistock | West Virginia Athletics
Shooting a bogey-free first round, senior Max Sear leads the way for the West Virginia golf team after 18 holes of play at the Tavistock Collegiate Invitational, hosted by the Mountaineers and UCF at Isleworth Golf & Country Club in Windermere, Florida.

Around the NCAA

New bowl projections, where everything but the title game feels up for grabs | SBNation
Here are picks for all 40 bowl games, including the College Football Playoff.

The 9 biggest winners and losers from a chaotic college football Week 8 | SBNation
Who had the most and least fun on a Saturday that started in Pullman and ended with multiple field-stormings?

130-team S&P+ rankings: Bama’s 1st, Clemson’s 2nd, and it’s chaos after that | SBNation
Freshly updated S&P+ rankings through the sixth week of 2018’s college football season.

Wazzu and Purdue are the world’s greatest football teams, except for UCF | SBNation
The Top Whatever is a weekly ranking of only the college football teams that must be ranked at this time.

Purdue’s upset of Ohio State was an unbelievable, emotional blowout | SBNation
What to know about the game of the year in so many ways.

Did Rajon Rondo actually spit in Chris Paul’s face? A SpitGate investigation | SBNation
There’s some damning camera angles. Rondo will have some explaining to do.

Spit Takes: There Were No Winners in the Lakers-Rockets Spat | The Ringer
Suspensions were handed out to Brandon Ingram, Rajon Rondo, and Chris Paul for their roles in Saturday’s ruckus at Staples Center. The penalties were modest, but their absences could do more damage than it seems.

All the Terrible Ways That Teams Lost in Week 7 | The Ringer
From a missed extra point to a short Hail Mary to a five-point scorigami, Sunday’s losers found new ways to rip defeat from the jaws of (possible) victory

What Was Michael Myers’s Greatest Feat of Strength? And Several Other Considerations About the ‘Halloween’ Killer. | The Ringer
Including: what you should do if he’s chasing after you

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