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Now that the first full week of practice is upon us and Court Visions has finally completed its preview of each of the 16 Big East teams, it's time to look at the schedules that these teams are preparing to play. What follows is a breakdown of every team's non-conference and conference slate in four segments. For those interested, the Card Chronicle counts down the best Big East non-conference matchups of the season here. In my ranking of non-conference schedule strength, there are only a few teams that stand out — Louisville and Cincinnati at the top and Notre Dame at the bottom. The rest of the league is pretty closely bunched with challenging but not overwhelming schedules, though Georgetown and Marquette could have beefed up their slates, considering how good they're expected to be.

It's important to note a few things about the conference schedules. The Big East has returned to an 18-game conference schedule for the first time since 1998-99. This means that each school will finally play every other school in the third year of the 16-team mega-conference. Each school will continue to play three others twice, but the determination of these matchups is based less on television than in the past. After a straw poll of coaches who were asked to rank the conference members this summer, the league has tried to create a schedule where the three home-and-home matchups come from each of three tiers in the conference (and the league has generally succeeded in this goal). So, when I rank the 16 conference schedules in degree of difficulty, the differences are marginal and relative. (In fact, the rankings for both non-conference and conference schedules are nothing approaching scientific, since no one truly knows how good teams will be. So take them with a grain of salt, if a thoughtful grain.)

Rick Pitino wouldn't agree with that assessment, calling his team's schedule unfair. Alas, the Cards' ranks as just the fifth toughest by my ratings. The differences are all quite small. Seton Hall and South Florida are the only outliers in terms of the quality of home-and-home opponents. But those two teams (and Rutgers) also have the toughest set of road games. Basically, playing Louisville or Georgetown twice is the difference between an average schedule and a tough one. But when it comes down to it, that's only the difference of one game (playing the top two teams three times versus twice), and over the course of 18 games, that's a small difference. Good work by the Big East scheduling gods this year.

Cincinnati

Non-conference schedule difficulty: 2nd of 16
Total non-conference Games: 12 (including one against a non-Division I school)
Key games: Belmont (Nov. 9), at UAB (Dec. 1), at Illinois State (Dec. 8), at Xavier (Dec. 12), Memphis (Dec. 15), at North Carolina State (Dec. 23), Miami (Ohio) (Dec. 29)
Conference schedule difficulty: 3rd of 16
Home-and-home conference opponents: Connecticut, Pittsburgh, St. John's
Other conference home games: Syracuse, Villanova, Marquette, South Florida, Providence, DePaul
Other conference road games: Louisville, Notre Dame, Seton Hall, West Virginia, Rutgers, Georgetown

Outlook: The non-conference schedule is packed with teams expected to finish in the top half of their conferences, and that's not a good thing as Mick Cronin tries to integrate a bevy of newcomers into his lineup. Belmont (Atlantic Sun) and Miami (Mid-American) are the defending champs of their conferences' tournaments, and Belmont is the preseason favorite to repeat. In Memphis and UAB, the Bearcats face the two best teams from their former conference, and a win in either appears to be a long shot. Xavier is the preseason pick in the Atlantic 10, and North Carolina State is expected to fit comfortably in the ACC's first division. Even Illinois State returns four starters to a team with a new coach, and it's never easy to win in Normal, Ill. The Redbirds, in fact, went on the road to defeat St. John's last November. Whoever put together this schedule was under the impression that the Bearcats would be talented and experienced this season. They're certainly not experienced and the talent level is still in doubt. Anything better than a 6-5 record against the Division I opponents would be a good start to the season

Cincinnati's conference schedule ranks as one of the trickiest because the Bearcats play two of the top five teams (according to my preseason ratings) twice, and the Bearcats also have to travel to Louisville and Georgetown. The Bearcats' toughest stretch comes in the season's final weeks. Over the course of three games, they travel to Georgetown, Pittsburgh and Connecticut with difficult home games against Providence and DePaul mixed in.

Connecticut

Non-conference schedule difficulty: 3rd of 16
Total non-conference Games: 11 or 13 (depending on play in 2K Sports tourney)
Key games: 2K Sports semis (Nov. 15) and finals/consolation (Nov. 16) vs. Gonzaga (Dec. 1), at Central Florida (Dec. 28), at Indiana (Jan. 26), Georgia Tech (Feb. 9)
Conference schedule difficulty: 15th of 16
Home-and-home conference opponents: Cincinnati, Notre Dame, Providence
Other conference home games: St. John's, Marquette, Louisville, Pittsburgh, DePaul, West Virginia
Other conference road games: Seton Hall, Georgetown, Syracuse, South Florida, Villanova, Rutgers

Outlook: After coddling his young players last season, Jim Calhoun has added a bit of beef to the pre-conference schedule this year. Let's start with what we know. The Huskies take on perennial mid-major power Gonzaga at the TD BankNorth Garden at the start of December, and they'll also take a trip down to Conference USA sleeper Central Florida during a week-long warm-weather break for UConn. Connecticut is expected to advance to Madison Square Garden as part of the 2K Sports College Hoops Classic. Billy Gillispie's Kentucky Wildcats are the most likely opponent should the Huskies win their preliminary games at Gampel. Memphis will likely await the winner, and perhaps Jeff Capel's Oklahoma Sooners the loser. In the midst of the 18 tough conference games, Connecticut plays return matches with Indiana and Georgia Tech. If Kelvin Sampson can stop getting in trouble with the NCAA, his Hoosiers should be around the top 15 all winter. Georgia Tech lost Javaris Crittendon and Thaddeus Young to the NBA, but they'll still be in the ACC mix when they come to Gampel in February. Indiana and Tech both defeated UConn last season.

Of the teams Court Visions predicted to be near the top of the conference, the Huskies get the biggest scheduling break in conference. They don't match up with Marquette, Louisville, Georgetown or Pittsburgh twice, and in fact play three of those four teams at home. UConn's toughest conference stretch probably starts in mid-January when Calhoun's club faces Georgetown, Marquette, Providence, Louisville, Pittsburgh and Syacuse with a trip to Indiana mixed in over a four-week span.

DePaul

Non-conference schedule difficulty: 4th of 16
Total non-conference Games: 12
Key games: at Creighton (Nov. 9), Northwestern (Nov. 17), at Kansas (Dec. 8), Vanderbilt (Dec. 12), vs. Mississippi (Dec. 20), vs. Clemson (Dec. 21), vs. LaSalle (Dec. 22)
Conference schedule difficulty: 6th of 16
Home-and-home conference opponents: Notre Dame, Providence, Villanova
Other conference home games: Georgetown, Rutgers, Syracuse, South Florida, Louisville, West Virginia
Other conference road games: St. John's, Marquette, Connecticut, Seton Hall, Cincinnati, Pittsburgh

Outlook: DePaul gets the benefit of facing several traditionally strong low-majors — Illinois-Chicago, Detroit, Texas A&M-Corpus Christi — in what should be down seasons for them. The Demons head to a harrowing environment in Omaha to face Creighton in the season-opener. Those who remember how Bradley dismantled DePaul in a similar situation last year might consider Jerry Wainwright a glutton for punishment, but this could be the best time to hit the Bluejays, as they return just one starter from last year's NCAA Tournament team and will probably take several weeks to gel. Northwestern defeated DePaul last season, and the Wildcats are better, but that should still be a W for the Demons. Besides the game at Kansas, there are no other games in which DePaul should be a double-digit underdog. They certainly won't be favored in San Juan against strong Southern teams Vanderbilt and Clemson, but those games mark a good chance for an upset to help build a résumé for the postseason. It's a well-designed, balanced schedule for a team hoping to make the NCAA Tournament, but the Demons might not be good enough to take advantage.

DePaul doesn't have to face the chalk of the Big East multiple times but neither do the Demons play any of the patsies twice. Notre Dame, Providence and Villanova are all firmly in the middle tier of the league, how those six games go will tell us a lot about what DePaul is made of. The Demons get the benefit of hosting league-best Georgetown and Louisville but won't relish playing Marquette, Syracuse, Notre Dame and Providence in an 11-day span at the end of January and beginning of February.

Georgetown

Non-conference schedule difficulty: 14th of 16
Total non-conference Games: 11
Key games: Michigan (Nov. 15), at Old Dominion (Nov. 28), at Alabama (Dec. 5), at Memphis (Dec. 22), Fordham (Dec. 31)
Conference schedule difficulty: 4th of 16
Home-and-home conference opponents: Louisville, St. John's, Syracuse
Other conference home games: Connecticut, Notre Dame, Seton Hall, South Florida, Villanova, Cincinnati
Other conference road games: Rutgers, DePaul, Pittsburgh, West Virginia, Providence, Marquette

Outlook: As you can see, the Hoyas non-conference slate is only sparsely populated with quality opponents, and even many of those listed aren't very good. Michigan should be in the second division of the Big Ten, Old Dominion will take a step or two back after losing three of its best players off last year's NCAA Tournament team, and Alabama will again try to win without Ronald Steele, who will miss the season with another knee injury. The big game is at Memphis just before Christmas. This will be an acid test for both teams, and could determine a lot when it comes to seeding in March. Georgetown wraps up the non-conference season with a New Year's Eve date with a Fordham team that returns almost everyone from last year's 18-win squad. Dereck Whittenberg will have his team ready, so the Hoyas better not be looking ahead to a toast and a kiss.

Any team that plays Louisville or Georgetown twice is going to have a slightly more difficult schedule than a team that doesn't, and the Hoyas and Cards face off against each other twice in games that will go a long way toward deciding the regular-season champion. Pittsburgh, West Virginia, Providence and Marquette comprise a difficult if fair quartet of road games for the defending league champs, whose toughest stretch probably comes when they travel to Louisville, Syracuse and Providence and host Villanova in a 10-day span.