PHILADELPHIA — University of Cincinnati men's basketball received favorable rankings, projections, and accolades in preseason publications, enough that head coach Mick Cronin could probably paper a wall in his house with all the magazines.

UC's 2017-18 team is a consensus top 25 team, according to publications like Athlon, Lindy's and Street & Smith's.

Lindy's even has the Bearcats ranked as a top 10 team.

Does Cronin care? Not a chance. He doesn't even read that stuff, Cronin said Monday during American Athletic Conference media day at the Philadelphia International Airport Marriott hotel.

"I think about my team as far as what we need to do to be a good, deep team," Cronin told The Enquirer. "I don't take winning for granted. I'm a guy that wakes up in the middle of the night worried that we're 3-10. I really am. I guess maybe because I rebuilt the program and we went through tough times rebuilding. I just don't think like that, and I don't think that last year has anything to do with this year... I don't buy into all that stuff. I mean, I get it. It's fun for people. I stay away from it. It's a problem because nowadays your players read that stuff."

Cronin might not care about the AAC's preseason coaches poll either. The poll was revealed Monday, and UC was voted by AAC coached to win the league in 2017-18.

The Bearcats' seven first-place votes narrowly edged out newcomer Wichita State's five first-place votes.

Even the rosiest of projections in the major preseason trade publications didn't have UC winning the AAC.

That Cronin's peers favor his side to take the league crown adds to the veracity of what the pundits have been saying about UC for a while.

The program's top three scorers from last year's 30-win, NCAA Tournament qualifier –Gary Clark, Jacob Evans and Kyle Washington – all return in 2017-18.

Guard Jarron Cumberland will look to improve on an impressive freshman campaign and transfer guard Cane Broome, who averaged more than 23 points per game at Sacred Heart two seasons ago, is already generating some buzz prior to his first full season with UC.

The Bearcats unquestionably have the pieces to be great.

Now, their AAC membership could provide an added boost to their eventual postseason resume. Wichita State, the darlings of Monday's media day, begin AAC play this coming season.

The Shockers bring with them to the league some additional credibility as head coach Gregg Marshall's side continues its rise to the ranks of a bona fide national power after a surge of success over the last five years.

Wichita State is widely viewed as a top-10 team at this stage of the preseason.

Even if Wichita State stands to make UC's run through the conference harder, and the Shockers almost certainly will, that still works to the Bearcats' advantage.

Cronin said he "hoped and prayed" the newest AAC member could help the league command more respect nationally.

"I think, coming from the old Big East, where we had a great league, the better your league is the more it's going to help you in the long run. The more respect your league gets, the more it helps recruiting," Cronin said. "Today's recruiting, it's a lot tougher when you're out of the so-called power leagues. Anything that helps our league as far as strength is good for all of us, and for me, it's great to see we actually did something for basketball. Like, somebody actually did something for a sport that's not football. You know? Because we've got a lot of great basketball schools in our league.

"It's the first time since I've been a head coach that I've seen a move made for basketball in a league that plays football."

AAC 2017 Men's Preseason Coaches' Poll:

1. Cincinnati (7) - 118 points

2. Wichita State (5) - 115

3. UCF - 93

4. SMU - 91

5. UCONN - 79

6. Houston - 72

7. Temple - 68

8. Tulsa - 52

9. Memphis - 36

10. Tulane - 30

11. ECU - 24

12. USF - 16

NO BEARCATS VOTED FIRST-TEAM ALL-AAC

Winning a college basketball conference without at least one first-team player on the team is virtually impossible. But that's what the AAC's coaches think will happen as no Bearcats were selected to the league's all-AAC first team.

Clark, Evans and Washington all received second-team nods.

"They must think I'm a pretty good coach," Cronin said jokingly when asked about the strange disparity between the preseason coaches poll and the all-league teams. "They're going to be wrong. One of those two things is going to be wrong. You can't win the league without at least one all-conference player."

Asked to explain how his team could be picked to win the league without any first-team players, Cronin suggested that the quantity of UC players worthy of first-team consideration might have split the vote, causing all of them to fall to the second team.

Cronin also emphasized that "none of this will matter in three weeks."

All-AAC first-team:

Shake Milton (SMU)

B.J. Taylor (UCF)

Jalen Adams (UCONN)

Landry Shamet (Wichita State)

Rob Gray (Houston)

All-AAC second team:

Gary Clark, UC

Tacko Fall, UCF

Jacob Evans, UC

Kyle Washington, UC

Junior Etou, Tulsa

Preseason Player of the Year: Shake Milton (SMU)

Preseason Rookie of the Year: Alterique Gilbert (UCONN).

The UC women's team was picked to finish eighth in the AAC this coming season. None of its players received preseason all-league accolades, either.

To the surprise of few, UCONN received 11 of 12 first-place votes and is the runaway favorite to win the AAC. The Huskies boast three all-AAC first team selections, one second-team nod and the Preseason Player of the Year, Napheesa Collier.

Collier was a unanimous all-AAC first team selection, as was UCONN's Gabby Williams.