The Big East Regular Season: It all comes down to this...and this...and this...

I saw Avatar-3D tonight. Count me among the "This Movie Changes Film Making" bandwagoners; the digital effects were forgettable... meaning I forgot I was watching digital effects because they were so good. Great story with a thinly-veiled post-9/11, anti-imperialism message. The 2 hours and 40 minutes rolled by twice as fast as 2012 did when I saw it the other week. Like all great sci fi/fantasy epics, you could sense it hurtling towards the final cataclysm: the Battle of the Tree of Souls. Indeed, it was right there with some of the great film battle scenes. While we're here, let's rank 'em...

5. Battle of Stirling (Braveheart) - Loses points for coming in the middle of the movie, but this was the first uber-violent battle scene my innocent eyes ever beheld.

4. Battle of the Tree of Souls (Avatar) - The battle begins with the general of the humans crying, "Our only security is in a preemptive strike!... We've got to fight terror with terror!" In other words, the humans are pure evil in this movie!

3. Battle of the 2nd Death Star/Endor (Star Wars: Return of the Jedi) - Star Wars Episodes I and II actually had larger climactic battles, but since the movies weren't as good, I'm giving it to the ultimate victory over the Dark Side. Still, I did like the "Order 66" scene in Episode III; a climactic battle scene that doesn't end happily.

2. Battle of Minas Tirith (LOTR: Return of the King) - Everything you could possible want in a battle scene...although I always felt the whole unleashing of the unstoppable army of death on the side of the good guys was a little unsatisfying.

1. Battle of Helm's Deep (LOTR:Two Towers) - I hadn't read the books, and since the Ring wasn't in Helm's Deep, I was partly convinced the battle was going to be lost by the good guys. I loved the addition (not in the novel) of the Elves coming to die alongside mortal men. And, of course, the deus ex machina-ish appearance of Gandalf and the Rohirrim was delightful.


The thing about these battles is you're never sure who's going to survive them. Almost any of the characters you've come to love over the last 2 hours might fall victim to the film's need for an emotional punch in the gut that shows the audience the battle isn't going well.

(Now let's MAGICALLY transition to college basketball.)

My feelings about Syracuse heading into the Big East Basketball regular season are similar. At any moment SU could take that punch in the gut. It might come from the obvious villain, or it might be a stray arrow that catches us out of nowhere.

So, I was worried about the Seton Hall game coming in... and they're in last place in the conference as of this moment! Now that it's over, I'm extremely relieved we stuck the sword in Jeremy Hazell, and, with Seton Hall done from our schedule, he won't be getting off any surprise kill shots when we least expect it.

The worst part of the Big East season is, unlike all of those epic movies, there is no guarantee the good guys will prevail in the end. There are a lot of things that could derail SU in the Big East season and lead to an unhappy ending:

• Onuaku's knees could go - Frankly, somewhere in the last few games I started to like Rick Jackson even more than A-O in the center of the zone on defense. But SU's pair of big men is virtually incomparable in the NCAAs.
• Rautins' body could shatter - He's made of glass, as we all know. I hate the sound of the dome when he takes an extra long time to peel himself off the floor.
• Triche/Jardine could fail to develop - As I've said before in this space, the Orange will only go as far as their PGs take them. At this moment, do you trust either of these two bringing the ball up with a 4-point lead in a tournament game? How about with a 4-point lead in ANY Big East game? Not yet. Watch the PGs carefully.
• The doldrums could strike - It will happen. SU will hit a bad stretch. Everything I'm reading suggests this is a tight-knit team that genuinely gets along. They're great at defense and loaded with offensive weapons. It's hard to imagine the team staying cold. But every Big East team (except West Virginia, unless someone told Huggins we play a 2-3 zone) knows how to attack Jim Boeheim. The Orange will lose a few games in conference. How will they handle it?
• Wesley Johnson could start to suck - Just kidding! That's not going to happen. You've probably seen his line against The Hall by now, but let me share it with you again: 20pts, 19reb (8off), 5blk, 50%FG.

That's all I could come up with. Frankly, it's a short list. The best part? 1 or 2 of those things could happen, and SU would still be an NCAA tourney team, and a dangerous one at that. That's the power of having a Wes Johnson.

One arrow dodged, eighteen more to go (not counting the Memphis game). A few will connect. It's gonna be a battle.