Villanova to play Pitt, Rutgers and Syracuse twice

The Big East announced its slate of conference matchups for the coming basketball season today. Villanova will play Pittsburgh, Rutgers and Syracuse twice each, and everyone else once.

All things considered, the schedule is pretty favorable. It's certainly not as rough as last year's was, when the Wildcats had to play Georgetown, Marquette and West Virginia twice each.

The home-only games are against Cincinnati, Georgetown, Louisville, Marquette, St. John's and West Virginia. The road-only games are against Connecticut, DePaul, Notre Dame, Providence, Seton Hall and South Florida. Not that playing Syracuse and Pitt twice will be easy, but getting Georgetown and West Virginia only at home is a plus.

The full list for all the teams is here. The hardest schedule might belong Syracuse, which has to play Georgetown, Seton Hall and Villanova twice each.