The Shotgun/Throwdown (5/18/18): Has West Virginia Found The Key To Success With The Transfer Market?

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

Football

West Virginia and market inefficiencies in modern recruiting | Football Study Hall
The Mountaineers don’t recruit at a high level in February but they have a lot of talent on their roster in key positions.

Predicting the Top 10 Offenses in College Football in 2018 | Bleacher Report
Purists still love a 9-6 slobberknocker, but today's era of college football is filled with high-powered offenses racking up yards and points. Looking ahead to the 2018 season, many scoring attacks stand out with the potential to excel. Based on a combination of scoring and yards per play, we've attempted to identify which programs will be the nation's 10 best.

McDougle’s transfer destination? It’s Washington State | WV MetroNews
Former West Virginia nose guard Lamonte McDougle signed with Washington State late Wednesday and will be eligible to play for the Pac-12 school in 2019.

Mitch Vingle: Holgorsen, WVU hoops and esports | Charleston Gazette-Mail
Mitch dives into football expectations, future basketball schedules and a possible new type of competition.

Basketball

Jevon Carter Sagaba Konate shine in NBA Draft Combine scrimmages | EerSports
Thursday was a big day at the NBA Draft Combine. Players met with teams for interviews and got measured in during the morning. They then went through shooting drills before taking part in scrimmages in the afternoon. For the two West Virginia stars - Jevon Carter and Sagaba Konate - there were mixed results at the measurement portion of the combine. Once both players got on the court, though, things were a whole lot better.

Sagaba Konate Jevon Carter measurements at NBA Draft Combine | EerSports
The NBA Draft Combine is currently in progress, and festivities began in earnest this morning as every player in attendance was measured in a variety of ways - body fat percentage, hand length, hand width, height without shoes, height with shoes, standing reach, weight, and wingspan. Here's a look at how the two Mountaineers in attendance - guard Jevon Carter and big man Sagaba Konate - measured up against the competition.

Baseball

Mountaineers Open Series with Win | West Virginia Athletics
A seventh-inning sacrifice fly and stellar pitching from six West Virginia University pitchers led the WVU baseball team to a 2-1 victory over Baylor on Thursday night.

Zarbnisky caps six-pack of pitchers that cools off Baylor | WV MetroNews
There is a good story behind Braden Zarbnisky and his ability to be one of the best two-way college baseball players in the country. That was very much on display Thursday night at Monongalia County Ballpark, as West Virginia held on for a gutsy 2-1 win against talented Baylor, which had won 16 of its last 18 games.

West Virginia Athletics

Four Mountaineer Teams Honored By NCAA | West Virginia Athletics
The West Virginia University men's basketball, rifle, golf and women's tennis teams received public recognition today by the NCAA for their latest multiyear Academic Progress Rate (APR) scores. The four teams posted multiyear APRs in the top 10 percent of all squads in each sport.

WVU Q&A series: A snapshot of Mountaineer volleyball | Charleston Gazette-Mail
Today, in this second spotlight, The Charleston Gazette-Mail sat down with Reed Sunahara, the women’s volleyball coach. Sunahara, hired in 2015, is originally from Hilo, Hawaii, and earned his bachelor’s degree at UCLA. As a Bruin, he was a two-time All-America volleyball selection and three-time NCAA champion.

Five Earn All-District Academic Honor | West Virginia Athletics
Five West Virginia University student-athletes were named to the 2017-18 Google Cloud Academic All-District 2 Men's and Women's At-Large Teams, as announced today by the College Sports Information Directors of America (CoSIDA).

Around the NCAA

The dark, pie-charted heart of college football’s most heated current rivalries | SBNation
Every rivalry has something that makes it burn hot.

After *that* offseason, Tennessee gets a tough test from West Virginia in Week 1 | SBNation
A win away from home against a Big 12 contender would go a long way toward putting UT’s 2017 in the rear view.

Alabama’s Tua Tagovailoa would have transferred if not for title game | SBNation
The rising sophomore came in for starter Jalen Hurts in the second half against Georgia.

The centuries-old history of how sports betting became illegal in the United States in the first place | SBNation
Here’s why the Supreme Court couldn’t legalize gambling nationwide when it struck down a federal law.

Las Vegas can host NCAA championships after the Supreme Court’s gambling ruling | SBNation
A longstanding NCAA absence from Las Vegas can now end.

It’s PRESEASON HEISMAN WATCH time. Meet 11 oddsmaker favorites. | SBNation
Running backs and quarterbacks abound, as usual.

Zach Calzada of Georgia might be 2019’s best sleeper QB recruit | SBNation
In a year lacking in good QB recruits, Calzada has a chance to shoot up the rankings (Editor's Note: Remember this name.)

TODAY’S FBS TEAM PREVIEW BY BILL C

As always, SB Nation’s Bill Connelly is working his way through every Division I FBS football team, from Georgia State to Alabama. Check out the teams Bill has already previewed by clicking HERE.

Was Colorado’s good year a mirage? Because 2017 looked like the same old, and 2018 might as well | SBNation
Mike MacIntyre spent a ton of goodwill in 2017.

The Lightning are going to make this as hard as humanly possible for the Capitals | SBNation
The Capitals had a chance to win this series easy way. No more.

The Celtics’ Miracle Run Continues | The Ringer
The injury-ravaged C’s are now two wins away from the Finals. Can Boston’s improbable run continue in Cleveland?

‘The Bachelorette’ cast has been revealed and it’s our sports-iest season yet | SBNation
We have former NFL players, a Globetrotter and a Sports Analyst vying for Becca’s heart this season.

Life in the Time of Robert Mueller’s Investigation | The Ringer
One year in, the Mueller probe into Donald Trump’s presidency has become the loudest, most restless circus in American politics. But is it leading somewhere?

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