Well, we saw the big boys play yesterday in a great game between Duke and Kansas.  It was only fitting that Grayson Allen’s shot at the end of regulation roll off the rim.  He should not be allowed to be a hero.  Allen makes Christian Laettner look like a choir boy with all of his dirty plays over the years.  If you are a “clean living” player, that shot drops through the net.  When you have a career full of trips and hip checks, it drops out.  Good riddance to him.

Watch out for Marvin Bagley III in the NBA.  He will be a force and a high pick in this year’s draft.  Loyola has had a great run but SU likes the match-up with Michigan in the first Final Four game Saturday.  They play very similarly, are not big and don’t have the tall players with giant wing spans that look to disrupt the offensive flow.  They can certainly beat Michigan if they shoot well and whoever makes shots from 3-point land will win this game.  SU is hopeful that Michigan’s assistant coach who is in charge of the defense and came from Illinois State is familiar with Loyola as they were in the same conference.  Michigan will be very challenged against either Villanova or Kansas and I will stick with my prediction of Villanova winning it all.

Leonard Hamilton of Florida State had a brain freeze at the end of that game by not fouling with 11 seconds left and only down 4 to a Michigan team that is challenged from the foul line.  After watching Kansas State foul in the last minute down 15 points, you wonder what he was thinking?  His post-game interview was cringe worthy as he had no clue what the sideline reporter was even asking him about.  SU did see that he put out a statement yesterday trying to explain himself and apologizing for any dis-respect he may have shown to her.  That was a class move by him.  She asked the right questions and it’s the coach’s job to answer as best he can.  Clearly, they should have fouled there and extended the game.

Baseball predictions are coming out for 2018.  Sports Illustrated has the Nationals beating the Yankees in the World Series and has the Mets as a wild card team.  Tyler Kepner in the New York Times likes the Astros to repeat (over the Cubs in the Series) but has the Orioles as a wild card team.  No team has repeated since the 2000 Yankees but SU says the Astros are a good bet to do so this year.  The Nationals always find a way to choke in the playoffs – they are actually very creative in that regard.

SU sees it this way:

American League

The Yankees, Indians and Astros win their divisions, with the Red Sox and Angels as wild cards.  I don’t see the Twins repeating as wild cards this year – hard to do for low budget teams.  Astros come out of the AL.

National League

Washington, Cubs and Dodgers take the divisions with the Cardinals and Mets as wild cards (assuming the Mets can keep their starters on the field which as we know is a big if).  Cubs win the NL and then lose to Houston in the World Series.

SU never likes to make predictions but the fans demand it.  Let’s hear from the experts in the SU intergalactic subscriber base.  It’s your chance to look very smart come late October as we can refer back to your incredibly insightful prognostications.