OK, so SU is not totally enthused about this year’s playoffs.  I have shared my lack of interest in this year’s NBA season and several of you have weighed in to show why I should be more jazzed.  I am prepared to get involved and stick with the long slog over the next 2 and a half months til the season ends in mid-June.  As we know, the 1st round takes about 2 weeks as teams play every 3-4 days.  SU’s thoughts on what you should keep an eye on as well as our fearless predictions:

• Golden State vs. Portland: these teams do not like each other and Portland is very cocky.  This is a good series to watch in the first round.  True rivals with bad blood.  No Big Papi big hugs here.
• Houston vs OKC: a mano a mano match up of Harden and Westbrook should be entertaining.  This could be the all-time battle of ball control players.  Definitely worth a look.
• Milwaukee vs. Toronto: this is the SU special for a possible upset.  Jason Kidd has the Bucks playing well.  They are a threat.

I don’t see anyone beating Golden State out west.  They will advance to the finals without any stress.  I don’t think Cleveland makes it to the finals this year – keep an eye out for the Wizards.  And the Cleveland loss opens the door for the Carmelo trade in the off season.  SU is feeling strongly about this and I don’t care if the move makes sense.  This is about playing with your friends and superstars calling the shots.  But Golden State will win it all in the end come summer.  Just not sure my interest level can hang in there for the long journey.

Big admission of the day: SU watched the last half period of the Rangers opening playoff game the other night.  End to end action; few stoppages in play.  Good stuff.  SU also did a comparison of regular season records between the NHL and the NBA.  Did you see that the Islanders at 41-29 did not make the playoffs?  Neither did Tampa Bay at 42-30.  Compare that to the NBA where .500 record teams are in the mix.  Very odd.

Yankees have righted the ship with 4 straight wins as a variety of players are contributing.  Greg Bird is torturing me – he just needs to get untracked.  Love the way Aaron Hicks has taken advantage of his chance to play and SU hopes he can light a fire under Ellsbury or at least threaten some of his playing time.  There is nothing better than a little competition to make guys uncomfortable and play a little harder.  SU has even watched some Met games of late and they are hitting now with Cespedes in the middle of one of his torrid streaks.  I must say his home runs are not cheapies.  I am still struggling staying awake for a full Yankee game but I am down to 1 brief nap per game now which is an improvement over my early season average of 2 per game.  Yankee games are soooooo long and slow moving.

OK, any thoughts about NBA playoff champs?  Anyone ready to go with an upset?  And NHL fans: rather than always complain that SU ignores hockey, here is your chance.  Plenty of room to comment.

SU doesn’t want to jinx him but you might want to check this out this afternoon.

SU just stumbled across this story on espn.com about yesterday’s LPGA golf tournament and a 4-stroke penalty that resulted from an email sent in by a TV viewer the next day after it happened.

http://www.espn.com/golf/story/_/id/19062269/lexi-thompson-gets-4-shot-penalty-loses-major-viewer-tip

This happened in a major championship no less.  It is hard to believe that this is even allowed.  The players are supposed to police themselves.  There isn’t a camera on every player on every hole for every shot.  And suppose the email came while Thompson was on the 16th hole and they didn’t rule until she was on the 18th green ready to putt?

I know there are many, many golfers on the SU subscriber list.  Comments?  “Par for the course” in golf?

SU has run the numbers, done its modeling and flipped its coins.  The time has come to make the 2017 MLB predictions.  A few thoughts for your consideration:

• The Chicago Cubs and the Cleveland Indians are the overwhelming picks out there to make it to the World Series.  SU says it’s very hard to repeat – very hard.  Did I say it was hard?  You need to stay healthy, have players have similar seasons to the prior year and then win hard fought, close playoff series.  I don’t see it.
• The Red Sox, on paper, look very imposing in the AL but SU says a big payroll with big names is no guarantee.  David Price already has a sore arm and the retirement of Big Papi has to be a factor.  For starters, more players in the line up will probably get hit this year to make up for 14 years of teams not wanting to offend the Big Hugger.  Perhaps even the Yankees will make up for lost time in that category?
• SU likes the Mets’ chances in the NL.  They certainly have the pitching if the starters can stay generally healthy.  The Nationals lack character and their playoff history is not good.
• The Astros are ready to take the next step.  Brian McCann is going to have the season he couldn’t have in New York.  Plus he gets to grow a beard now.

American League

The Division winners will be: Boston; Cleveland; and Houston with Texas and Toronto as the wild cards.  The Yankees will finish 80 – 82 and will be sellers by the trade deadline.  But they will be infinitely more fun to watch – especially in the 2nd half of the season. when the youngsters flood the roster.  The starting pitching is just not good enough.  Tanaka, who was unhittable in spring training, got rocked yesterday and SU says his torn tendon will become an issue during the season as he over-extends due to the opt out clause in his contract.  CC Sabathia is the #2 starter: need I say more?  How terrifying is that?  But it’s all good as long as they play the young guys and stick with them.

Houston will advance to the World Series.  I think Toronto is a weak wild card but I don’t see any other team being good enough to be in the mix.

National League

In the National League, the Division winners will be: Mets; Cardinals; and Giants; with the wild cards as the Cubs and the Dodgers.  The Cubs will be injury plagued but will sneak into the playoffs.  The loss of Chapman as the closer will become a factor as well as the season wears on.

The Giants will advance to the World Series and will beat Houston for the championship once again featuring a roster that isn’t good enough on paper but finds a way to win.  They are due.  I think it will be a good year for the Mets who will make some good mid-season pick-ups to help the offense and will generally be healthy to make up for last season.

So much of a team’s success comes down to the health of the starting pitchers.  You can plug in hitters as the season unfolds but it’s much harder to find another consistent starter along the way.  I also think it will be a great baseball season with new young stars emerging and renewed fan interest.

Random thought of the day: the Cleveland Cavaliers are not heading into the playoffs with any momentum.  It could be a case of boredom but SU says if they don’t make it to the finals, LeBron will put his GM hat on and insist that they acquire Carmelo Anthony.  I am not saying it’s the right move but I think he is at the point in his career where he can see the finish line and wants to play with his buddies.  You can say I am way off base but SU will mark this on the calendar.

OK, it’s time for SU to acknowledge those of you from the intergalactic subscriber base who put their reputations on the line with fearless NCAA Final Four predictions.  Let us summarize what we heard from the SU faithful:

• Mark N. leads the charge with his prediction of Gonzaga topping UNC in the finals.  He is well positioned certainly.  Well done!
• There was a lot of love for Northwestern from P. Friedman and Jeff.  SU likes the passion for the Wildcats and they had a strong comeback against Gonzaga.
• P. Bok did well by picking both UNC and Oregon in the Final Four and was impressed by Oregon going in.
• Of course, SU crashed and burned with Arizona.  But the important thing is putting your picks out there and manning up.

I have to admit: I watched a lot of the early rounds but I have minimal interest in the Final Four.  I still don’t know how Oregon got there – they are not that good and were fortunate to get by Michigan.  You have to feel like North Carolina is ready to avenge last year’s buzzer beating loss and will cut down the nets Monday night.

SU watched a fair amount of last night’s UConn – Mississippi State Final Four game.  The announcers were saying this was one of the biggest upsets ever in NCAA history but I don’t see that.  Mississippi State is a #2 seed and while they were killed by UConn last year by 60 points in the Elite 8 , that was a very different UConn team.  True, UConn came in undefeated but their win streak covered a bunch of players who are no longer there.  It was an upset obviously but not one for the ages.

SU is a major UConn fan and I know there are a few subscribers who are also passionate about the women’s team.  Mississippi State really stymied UConn’s ball movement on offense by clogging up the passing lanes and doing a bit of holding and grabbing.  Here is the thing with “playing aggressively on defense” with this style of play.  SU has seen this before (see Rye High School vs. Blind Brook HS with their football style of grabbing and shoving back in 2006).  What happens is that the refs realize that they can call a foul on every play and may start out that way but as the game goes on, they don’t want to keep doing that and start to pocket their whistles.  The announcers call it “physical play.”  SU sees it as grabbing and holding.  I am not taking anything away from MSU – they executed their game plan and did not back down.  But for the fan, I would rather see the game played with ball movement and cutting, and if the defense is impeding that, then call the fouls.  We don’t need a return to Pat Riley 1990s Knick ball.  In any event, it’s good for women’s college hoops to have some upsets and this will only fuel UConn next season with a stacked roster.

Also, the flagrant foul call at the end of the game was bogus.  How can you review the video and then go back and call a flagrant when there was no foul originally?  The reality is that if there hadn’t been a stoppage in play, it’s possible that the game could have ended and THEN the refs check the video.  Are you telling me they would have gone back and allowed UConn to shoot 2 foul shots then??  I also think there was some acting by Samuelson there.  Thought from those of you that saw that play?

Finally, SU checked out the Kyrgios – Federer match last night which Fed won 7-6, 6-7, 7-6 in a 3-hour slugfest.  It was great tennis and Kyrgios is managing to keep it together much better now.  Of course, he did destroy his racket on the court after losing match point but still progress for him.  He will never be a class act on the court and fans may long for the days of the Big Four and their mutual respect for one another.  But he will be knocking on the door for the next year and will have his share of upset wins.

SU says check out this piece by Andrew Marchand from espn.com on the baby Yankees in the pipeline.  True, as he says, they could all fall flat but for the first time in a long time in Yankeeland, there is real hope on the way.

“The New York Yankees could be rolling out a long run of Rookie of the Year contenders. It might become an annual event.

Before you bookmark this page for future trolling, allow me a quick caveat: Nobody knows how good any player in the Yankees’ fine crop of minor league talent will become. There might be more Ruben Riveras than Mariano Riveras.

Still, with manager Joe Girardi’s giddy speculation that this collection could be more talented than the early to mid-‘90s group that resulted in the Core Four plus Bernie Williams, there is a feeling the franchise might have something special going on.

Last year, catcher Gary Sanchez was the runner-up for the Rookie of the Year Award largely because he didn’t spend enough time in the majors. Aaron Judge, newly minted as the team’s starting right fielder, is next up. He begins the season as the Yankees’ top rookie. But he’s not alone; a progression of talent is set to follow him.

Next year, shortstop Gleyber Torres could be the man. In 2019, it might be left-hander Justus Sheffield. In 2020, it could be outfielder Blake Rutherford. And it goes on.

These young guys might push themselves to the majors earlier than that and compete with each other for the rookie award. The Yankees also have guys such as Clint Frazier, Jorge Mateo, Chance Adams, Jordan Montgomery and Tyler Wade fighting for their turn.

To repeat, there are no guarantees. Judge struck out 42 times in 84 at-bats last year, which is beyond awful. If you say he’ll be back at Triple-A by the end of April, it wouldn’t shock me. Judge, though, is an interesting case for Rookie of the Year — because if he is pretty good, he is going to be a huge star. He is 6-foot-7 and 275 pounds. He is built like a professional wrestler or a defensive lineman. He comes across as polite, which, if he performs, will allow his size to be his defining quality.

If he doesn’t perform at the big league level and Frazier rips it up at Triple-A, then the redhead with “legendary bat speed,” according to GM Brian Cashman, could get a shot instead. Of course, both would have to compete with this year’s AL Rookie of the Year favorite — Boston Red Sox left fielder Andrew Benintendi.

Torres could move his timetable up, too. Even with the injury to Didi Gregorius, Torres never had a legitimate shot to the make the big league club out of camp. The Yankees want to do everything right with their 20-year-old gem, which means not rushing him from Single-A to the majors. He will begin this season at Double-A Trenton, his first experience playing in the cold. If he masters Double-A and Triple-A, he could be in the Bronx at some point this season, playing anywhere in the infield other than first base.

First base is held by Greg Bird, who would be yet another ROY candidate if he hadn’t made such a nice debut in 2015, hitting 11 homers in 157 at-bats and posting an .871 OPS. Bird looks like a budding star. He and Sanchez will bat No. 2 and No. 3 in the Yankees’ batting order.

It’s an impressive group, and a deep one. That is why Judge might be the Yankees’ latest Rookie of the Year candidate, but he’s almost certainly not the last.”

For those tennis fans out there, SU watched two of the top up and coming stars on the men’s side last night down in Miami: Nick Kyrgios (21 years old) and Alex Zverev who is 19.  Kyrgios, who’s mental age is probably about 14, has moved up a level and faces Federer tonight in the semis down there.  They pounded each other for 2 and a half hours last night in high quality tennis featuring 130 – 140 mph serves and some wild points.  Kyrgios is on the cusp now and he seems to be having fewer of the mental meltdown moments this year.  There are now several men in their early 20s ready to ensure a nice transition from the Big Four to Gen Next.  Murray and Djokovic are breaking down now physically from having played too many 5-hour plus matches in the Grand Slams.  If you watch Federer now, he is so smart: stands on the baseline to return serve and is charging the net whenever he can to shorten points.  At 35, he knows that’s how he has to play to win and he is having a great 2017.  SU says it’s good stuff.  Time to make sure you have the Tennis Channel on your cable package.

SU fearless MLB predictions coming this weekend.  For those of you keeping score at home, SU’s predictions over the years in baseball have been pretty good if I do say so myself.  Be sure to check them out and then weigh in with your picks.

SU is not happy.  The Yankees have announced that Ronald Torreyes will be the starting shortstop while Didi Gregorius is out.  That is actually ok as Torreyes paid his dues last year as the utility infielder and is only 24 years old.  But they had the chance to slot in Tyler Wade, a 22-year old prospect, to be the back up and even split time with Torreyes.  After all, Wade has hit .357 in spring training but alas, that was not good enough.  They have decided to have Pete Kozma be the back up.  Kozma was released by the Cardinals last year – great field no hit kind of player and older.

SU says you are at best going to win 81 games this year.  The Didi injury was a bummer so why not give Wade some of the at bats?  He can also play all of the infield positions and some outfield.  It’s fine to have a blend of young and veteran but this was an opportunity and SU hates the decision.  Once the season starts, Ellsbury and Headley will get 2 months to be up and running and will get the lion share of those at bats for their positions.  I am ready to get excited this year if they play the youngsters.  But Cashman has to be more aggressive – especially as so many of these kids had great spring trainings.  In a word: annoying.

The Mets luck out with Famillia only getting a 15-game suspension.  Given that Chapman got 2 months last year, that has to be seen as a win.

SU caught a little of the women’s college hoops regionals last Sunday.  The last 5-6 minutes between Notre Dame and Stanford was so well played.  Each team seemed to score on every possession down the stretch.  Outside of UConn, I rarely watch the women but this was high quality.  It’s unfortunate that the regional finals were played before sparse crowds aside from the sellout in Bridgeport for UConn.  ESPN won’t show the crowd but when someone is shooting foul shots, you can see all of the empty seats behind the baskets.  Too bad.

As SU’s NCAA bracket goes through its annual crash and burn phase (see Arizona losing to Xavier), I did want to comment on Michigan’s late season run which ended last night in its loss to Oregon.  It was a choppy game and Michigan’s offense was definitely not in synch – in large part to Oregon’s defense.  But despite everything, their best player had an open look to win it at the buzzer but his shot fell short and that’s that.

But for SU, I will remember these last 2 weeks for a long time as well as the whole season.  This was not a great team and there were many games in the first 2/3 of the season that were borderline unwatchable.  You have to give credit to John Beilein for righting the ship and getting his players to all be on the same page and play selflessly down the stretch.  The Big Ten Tournament was great – 4 games in 4 days and SU still believes that teams that win their conference tournaments pay the price down the road with fatigue in the NCAAs.  I really enjoyed watching these games and will miss Derrick Walton, Jr.  He has a shot to play in the NBA but he will never be in a situation like he had in college.  The more I watch the college game, it just highlights how selfish the pro game is and how for most teams (not all), one player’s success comes at the expense of a teammate.  That sense of pulling for each other, not worrying about who gets what points as long as we win – well, outside of Golden State and San Antonio, not sure I see that anywhere else.  SU says that’s why the one and done players ought to stay in school a little longer to at least, maybe, experience a real sense of team.  Anyway, while I am very disappointed – “SAD!” – this was a great stretch run.

Did anyone catch the end of the West Virginia – Gonzaga game?  I have seen 6th grade boys rec basketball teams execute better than Coach Bob Huggins’ Mountaineers.  Down 3 with about 35 seconds left, one player and I mean one player dribbles the ball, shoots a terrible 3, gets the ball back on an offensive rebound, throws up another terrible 3, gets the ball back again on an offensive rebound, and then dribbles down the clock to shoot again, can’t get it off, tries to pass and the clock expires.  First of all, they didn’t need to shoot a 3, second, you do have teammates, and third, why doesn’t West Virginia ever recruit guys who can actually shoot?

Kansas is peaking now.  They will roll over Oregon who isn’t that good.  Gonzaga has escaped its last 2 games but all you have to do is advance.  No style points here.

It looks like Yankees’ starting shortstop, Didi Gregorius, will be out at least 6 weeks and possibly 1/4 of the season with a shoulder injury.  He was a consistently good hitter last season and made up for the lack of offense from several of the more veteran Yankee regulars.  Clearly not the news Yankee fans want to hear.  But SU says maybe something positive will come out of this.

For example, the Yankees just sent down 20-year old Gleyber Torres to their Class AA Trenton Club.  After all, he had only hit .444 in spring training with some power.  The betting is that he will only spend a short time in Trenton and then get elevated to Scranton.  Assuming he has success, SU says bring him up to the parent Club as soon as possible and let him cut his teeth up here.  By then, Didi will be back in the line up and Chase Headley can then have some competition for at bats at 3rd base.

The injury also creates an opportunity for Rob Refsnyder who has made the least of them over the last couple of years.  He has not shined in spring training and rumor is that he is on the trading block.

Meanwhile, Greg Bird has been named the starting first baseman and promptly went out and hit his 5th and 6th home runs of the spring season today.  The dude is hitting over .400.  Contrast that with Chris Carter who was 0 for 3 today with 3 strikeouts and has a spring training average of .108 with 4 hits and 20 strikeouts.  I know.  Shocking!  Who would have thought that when they signed him?  SU says it’s time to go all in on the youngsters.  Someone will take Headley in a trade and you can bat Ellsbury 10th or 11th in the lineup.  80 wins will be a real success this season.  Don’t be like the Knicks.  Go young in a big way and the fans will get behind the team.  The Carter signing was stupid.  Matt Holliday has had a good spring and if he can be somewhat productive, that’s fine.  I know some question Bird’s upside (see frequent SU commenter S. Goldman), but remember that Don Mattingly didn’t have great power numbers in the minors either.  Bird is the real deal and should play every day – no platoon needed.

SU has zero interest in watching the veterans anymore and that includes Brett Gardner. They are not interesting.  SU is afraid that Girardi will rely on his veterans come April and the hot hitting youngsters will find their way to the minors or to the bench.   Time will tell.

As many in the SU intergalactic subscriber base are aware, SU is all in on Michigan football and basketball.  I watch just about all the games and really enjoy how Coach John Beilein runs his program.  He plays a motion offense, emphasizes team ball, yells but doesn’t curse along the lines of Joe Girardi and recruits players who will be successful in his system.  They are generally competitive, get out-rebounded every game, find a way into the NCAA field come tournament time and as a fan, provide an enjoyable couple of hours.  Sure, there are many frustrating moments but during this period of the awful Knicks, Jeremy Lin’s injuries and Novack Djokovic’s slump, for SU they are must see tv.

Yesterday’s win over Louisville was as rewarding a win for SU since the Elite Eight win over Kansas back in 2013 in their NCAA finals run.  Louisville was a Final Four caliber team and Michigan battled its way back in the 2nd half and found a way.  This last week of basketball including the 4 wins in the Big Ten Tournament and now these 2 NCAA victories will be lasting memories coming on the heels of the plane crash.  They have a shot against Oregon who is missing their big man and then a match up vs. Purdue or Kansas.  Why not them?

Northwestern was gifted a win vs. Vanderbilt with the intentional foul and then fell victim to the missed goal tending call in a furious rally late vs. Gonzaga.  SU felt badly but the reality is that you cannot get caught up in the officiating.  The quality of the officiating in the NCAAs is really uneven and you can either get frustrated or you find a way.  The good teams find a way even when it looks like you will be hosed the entire game.  SU believes the refs will look to even up the calls at half time no matter which way things are going.

Going into the Sweet Sixteen, it’s pretty wide open now.  Kansas has that look but they go through long stretches of terrible shot selection.  And how about Kentucky?  John Calipari is a great recruiter but does he run any offense?  His teams play like Mt. Vernon’s high school team: throw up any shot and crash the offensive glass.  SU has them in the Final Four but they were awful yesterday.  Watch out for Wisconsin who plays a style no one wants to go up against.  The Big Ten has 3 teams in the Sweet Sixteen — good for them.

Have you ever seen a longer last 5 minutes of a game than Duke – South Carolina last night with all of the foul calls?  SU has a theory that a team takes on the attitude of its coach when it comes to arguing foul calls.  The more the coach complains, the more the player whine.  Coach K was going after the refs and so were his players last night and it just doesn’t help.  Duke was also playing in Greenville, SC and that was like a road game for them.

Finally, SU read an article in today’s New York Times about the 20-year old prospect Torres who they got from the Cubs in the Chapman deal.  They may even bring him up in the summer and have him playing 2nd, short and 3rd base.  Could he be up the replacement for Chase Headley?  This could be very, very good.