New West Virginia head football coach Neal Brown will be taking on his first appearance at the annual Big 12 Media Days starting today. The Mountaineers are coming into the 2019 season facing low expectations from those outside of the program. WVU is projected to finish eighth in the Big 12 and miss bowl season this year. As a result, Brown, and the Mountaineers that he brings with him to the Big 12 Media Days, will have some tough questions to answer as they participate in multiple interviews throughout the week.

Coach Brown isn't the only new coach to join the league this season. Kansas, Texas Tech, and Kansas State are also bringing fresh faces into the conference. Les Miles of Kansas is likely going to be the new head coach that will receive most of the attention this week. Yesterday Miles answered questions about implementing just a one game suspension on star running back Pooka Williams in the Jayhawks’ first game of the season, which is being viewed as a light punishment considering the charges that Williams was facing.

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West Virginia point guard Jordan McCabe is recovering from his surgery to correct a torn MCL. Last week head coach Bob Huggins spoke about McCabe’s recovery since the surgery in April and discussed how McCabe is back at practice with limited participation. Huggins also spoke about the Mountaineers’ upcoming trip to Spain, where they will play in three exhibition games. WVU will not be taking the entire team on the trip, since some players are still working to meet academic requirements, but it will be valuable experience for the Mountaineers that can go.

Oklahoma head coach Lincoln Riley is still not happy about West Virginia quarterback Austin Kendall leaving his Sooner program for WVU. At the Big 12 Media Days yesterday, Riley spoke about the personal reasons that made him reluctant to let Kendall transfer, despite the fact that he brought in Alabama transfer Jalen Hurts. Riley also voiced concerns with transfer eligibility rules in the conference. Despite Riley’s personal disagreement with the move, Kendall is now a Mountaineer and contending for the starting quarterback position.

West Virginia alumni basketball team Best Virginia took down a team of southern West Virginia’s top college basketball players, 118-80, in an exhibition game last week. Best Virginia is preparing to start play in The Basketball Tournament (TBT), a single elimination basketball tournament with a $2M prize for the winning team. Best Virginia will begin playing in TBT later this month, starting with a matchup against Old Dominion alumni team, Seven City Royalty. The game will be the first in the Richmond Regional. It was also unofficially announced the there will be a Morgantown Regional next year in TBT.

That’s it for today. Have any tips, suggestions or requests for what you want to see in Mountaineer Links? Don’t hesitate to leave a comment below or contact us on social media.

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