As we enter the fourth year of the Big East as we know it, things have changed a bit. No longer is the conference frowned upon or considered a shell of itself (with the exception of an occasional Twitter egg).
As such, nonconference scheduling has really started to be taken up a notch as well. Between the Gavitt Games, Feast Week, and other various events, it seems like more and more teams are on board with adding Big East teams to their nonconference schedule.
It’s nice to see, really. One of the best things about college basketball is when two high-caliber “power conference” teams square off.