Great NCAA championship game last night.  Of course, SU could not stay awake for the whole game but did wake up in the 4th quarter to see the missed field goal and then overtime.  Georgia was certainly dominant in the 1st half and the 13-0 half-time lead reflected that dominance.  You have to give Nick Saban credit for putting his freshman QB in for the 2nd half and allowing him to open up the offense.  They should have an interesting competition next season for the starting quarterback position – similar to what Ohio State went through with Cardale Jones and JT Barrett after they won the championship a few years ago.  As Georgia played an overtime game to get here, you can’t feel sorry for them – you roll the dice in OT.  The reality is that if Alabama had a better field goal kicker, Georgia would have lost in regulation.

The Georgia running back, Michel, had one run in the first half where he tip-toed down the sideline and stayed in-bounds.  You can see this guy will be special in the NFL – until he is injured after a couple of years of course.  Their quarterback, Fromm, is also the real deal and will have a great NFL career.  He has an athlete’s pedigree having also played in the Little League World Series and is a bit of a gun slinger.

In any event, a great conclusion to the season and you have to say that the NCAA Football Championship committee got it right with the 4 teams selected for the top bowls.

Trey Burke to the Knicks?  Sounds like we are no the verge.  Now it will be up to Jeff Hornacek to use him vs. having him be the 12th player on the roster who just sits.  The Knicks are last in the NBA in 3-point shooting.  He will need to figure out a way to use him to open things up for KP and others.  Or not.  Most G-League players who make the NBA rosters just sit.  The Knicks have guaranteed Jarrett Jack’s contract now for the season.  But there are always injuries and guys have to take advantage of their opportunities.

For those of you who follow men’s tennis, the number of injuries hitting the top players is striking.  Andy Murray just had hip surgery and is out until Wimbledon, Djokovic has a tennis elbow type of condition and may also need surgery very soon.  Stan Wawrinka has still not played for a few months and Nadal seems to be day-to-day with his knees.  SU says the issue is that this group of players tries to win by staying back and grinding out long rallies from the baseline.  This results in 4- and 5-hour matches in the major tournaments on hard courts and we are seeing them wear down physically.  Federer is the exception as he will venture to net or look to end points sooner with riskier shots.  I think the reality of the sport is that the grind it out approach will shorten careers or at least careers where you are at the top of the sport.  It will be interesting to see if Murray and Djokovic change their playing styles now or if they will see the answer as just playing fewer tournaments.  Young and up and coming players should pay attention here and model their games after Federer vs. this style.  The problem is that with the equipment these days, it’s hard to come to net and not get passed.