The Big East has released its men's basketball schedule for next year and for the first time in about five years I'm happy with it. For starters, the Huskies will not have to double up against any Conference USA teams (I believe that's the first time that's happened since the expansion). Second, and more importantly, UConn is getting two games with Syracuse, something that should happen every year (the cost for Syracuse? They only play Georgetown once.)
The full schedule is:
Home - Cincinnati, DePaul, Marquette, Notre Dame, Pittsburgh, St. John’s, Seton Hall, Syracuse, West Virginia
Away - Georgetown, Louisville, Notre Dame, Providence, Rutgers, Seton Hall, USF, Syracuse, Villanova
All in all it's not a bad list of matchups, especially since DePaul (and maybe Seton Hall) are the only dud home games.
As always the ultimate verdict on the schedule can't be handed down until we figure out what's at Gampel. Knowing the athletic department you can go ahead and pencil in DePaul for Gampel one of either Pittsburgh or Syracuse for the XL Center, but I won't have to be furious about that until September.