Sports Illustrated predicted Astros title in ‘14

LOSANGELES » What jinx?

Sports Illustrated boldly predicted an Astros’ World Series title on its cover in 2014 — after Houston had lost more than 100 games for three straight years — proclaiming: “Your 2017 World Series Champs.” It featured a picture of George Springer in a bright Astros jersey.

It proved to be oh so prophetic. Not only did the Astros win, Springer was named Series MVP after boosting Houston over the Dodgers 5-1 in Game 7 on Wednesday night.

Sports Illustrated took a victory lap on Twitter, sending out an updated gif of the cover that shows Springer’s uniformmorphing from the throwback rainbow version to the orange tops they wore in Game 7. The tweet simply said, “Called it ...”

The Huskies, who saw their 111-game winning streak come to an end in the Final Four last season, return four starters from that team and add a stellar freshman class to go along with two solid transfers.

The entire 32-member national media panel picked UConn first, marking the fifth time the team has been the lone choice atop the poll. The Huskies also matched Tennessee for most preseason No. 1 rankings.

Texas is second — the Longhorns best ranking since the second poll of the 2004 season. That was also the last year that the Longhorns were ranked second in the preseason Top 25. Big 12 rival Baylor is third followed by defending national champion South Carolina and Ohio State.

Notre Dame, Mississippi State, UCLA, Louisville and Stanford round out the first 10.