Winner: Butler
While most of the Big East was struggling, Butler made the most of their Feast Week, as they won the Arizona tip-off tournament while picking up solid wins over Northwestern and No. 25 Mississippi State. After losing an early season buy game to Austin Peay, the Bulldogs appear to be back on track, as they have gone 5-0 since that loss while also picking up a win over SMU in addition to their two wins in Arizona. The Bulldogs still have a few more opportunities to add to their resume before conference play starts, with a road game at Houston and a game versus Wisconsin. Given the issues with many of their other conference opponents, Butler has the potential to be a real sleeper in the Big East this year.
Loser: The ACC
As a collective group, the ACC had an awful Feast Week. Teams such as North Carolina and Wake Forest had disappointing showings, highlighted by missed opportunities at their tournaments. Then there's Virginia, Virginia Tech, NC State, Syracuse, Miami, and Notre Dame, who all went winless and finished in last place in their respective tournaments, with the latter losing a separate buy game during the week. Stanford and Boston College, who had just won the Cayman Islands Classic, also suffered buy game losses throughout the week.
On the flip side, teams including Pitt, Clemson, and SMU all looked solid this week, with Pitt's road win at Ohio State likely being the conference's best win this week. Duke, despite a narrow loss to Kansas, has still looked really good and figures to be the team to beat this year. That being said, it looks like it will be a down year for the ACC, despite the expansion to 18 teams, and without some mid-season turnarounds by certain teams, the conference may struggle to put five teams in the NCAA Tournament this year.
Winner: Drake
Drake lost their head coach and most of their players this offseason. Despite all that, they've had a fantastic start to the season, sitting at 7-0 overall and winning the Charleston Classic, earning wins over Miami, FAU, and Vanderbilt in the process. The Bulldogs will play at Kansas State in a few weeks, and if they can win this game, it would be a huge step towards building a potential at-large resume if they fail to win MVC this year. That being said, the Bulldogs may be the favorites to win the MVC for a third straight year despite being picked to finish fifth in the preseason coaches' poll.
Loser: Indiana
The Hoosiers' overall performance in the Battle 4 Atlantis left a lot to be desired. Entering the tournament ranked no. 14, Indiana went 1-2 in the Bahamas and fell out of the top 25 altogether. This included an opening round 28-point loss to Louisville followed by another double-digit loss to Gonzaga before defeating Providence in the 7th-place game. Given Providence's struggles this year, that likely won't be a needle-moving win. There aren't any more opportunities for a solid non-conference win on the Hoosiers' schedule, so they will have their work cut out for them come Big Ten play.