Indeed...I too buy into the concept that if the BIG BANG is to happen again, after the universe is sucked back into itself, that it will produce the same matter. Cyclical...that's synonymous with infinity.

From a philosophical stand point (like you were stating at the end), "nothingness" is a very tricky subject. In short, philosophically speaking, nothingness is impossible. To HAVE nothingness dictates existence. Now, some philosophies and philosophers have attempted to prove nothingness exists outside existence, thereby truly being the sole idea of the word...nothing. It's dogwash. Even Heidegger, my favorite philosopher, attempted to prove nothingness, and did so rather half-assed (in my personal opinion).

The only philosophical view I can even agree with is somewhat of a pre-nihilistic approach. Nihilism on a whole is the bastard son of existentialism (which is what I am...and existentialist), and isn't worth two cents. But when one takes into account the idea of nothingness in relation to a thing...

FOR EXAMPLE:

I have in my hand a pen. What I don't have in my hand is a pop-can. A pen (however you define it) is not a pop-can (however you define it). Ergo, when I have the pen, I don't have what it's not (or rather, I do have what it's not). I have the pen...I have not the pop-can.

Anywho...when one looks at it subjectively, infinity, circular time, existence, is a highly justified claim.