Yeah, it's not going to be an easy slog for the AAC teams trying to build stronger programs, but at least now they are playing far stronger schedules and hopefully getting better prepared than they were two years ago. And the Big East teams in general are also finding more of a groove as they start plowing through the third year since the split. Look at 4-3 Tulane and see how much better the results really are than two years when they were also 4-3 after 7 games. Sure, they're expected to lose to FSU, Green Bay, and Rutgers, but they've beaten an LSU team that had four wins over ranked teams last year and a Virginia team that knocked off Louisville last year, and they also have a win over last year Tourney team UArk Little Rock. Two years their early wins were poor and their early losses were to sludgy P5 teams.
Sure it's uneven, and Tulsa especially has had a tougher time, but even they have a road win over an SEC team, Arkansas. Some weekends like the last one were half empty or a bit less, but some in the future will be more than half full. And the AAC still had a better Tourney record than all the other conferences last year.