Philadelphia — Don't be fooled by UConn's preseason ranking in the American Athletic Conference men's basketball poll.

Cincinnati coach Mick Cronin believes the Huskies, who were picked to finish fifth by the AAC coaches, are a wild card.

"Because of what they went through last year, people forget about them," Cronin said Monday during AAC basketball media day at the Philadelphia Airport Marriott.

The Huskies have a lot to prove coming off their first losing season since 1986-87. Injuries played a painful role in their 16-17 overall record.

They're healthy now, and coach Kevin Ollie added eight newcomers to the roster.

As far as being a wild card, here's what Ollie had to say about that:

"I think we're a team in progress and we're trying to get better every day," Ollie said. "We're trying to win the day. So wild card, champion, worst team, best team, it really doesn't matter to me. It's about what we do every day in practice and that's what I want our guys to understand."

Three returning players expected to be major contributors, junior Jalen Adams, redshirt junior Terry Larrier and redshirt freshman Alterique Gilbert, attended media day.

Adams, the team's leading scorer last season, was selected to the preseason first team. Larrier and Gilbert, who was named the preseason rookie of the year for the second straight season, return after sitting out the majority of last season with injuries.

Their expectations are much higher than their preseason poll ranking. Their goal is to win the regular season conference title, something that they've never done. In fact, they haven't finished any higher than fourth.

"We know how good our team is and we have our own expectations," Adams said. "We're not really too worried about the outside world. We know what we've got inside our locker room and what we're capable of doing."

Gilbert added: "It's definitely a chip on our shoulder. We feel like we're a lot better than that."

The Huskies have never been ranked lower than second in the previous four AAC preseason polls, so the underdog role is new territory for them.

Maybe that's a better position for them.

"It just adds fuel to the fire," Larrier said. "That's more motivation for us. We've just got to come out and prove it this year."

It will be a tough climb to the top with the AAC adding a quality program in Wichita State, which returns 12 players from a 31-win team. The Shockers were selected second, receiving five first-place votes, two fewer than first-place Cincinnati. Central Florida and Southern Methodist University are third and fourth, respectively.

A challenging non-conference schedule that features Syracuse, Villanova, Arizona and Auburn as well as the PK80-Phil Knight Invitational will help prepare the Huskies for conference play.

"If they win a few of those, it's going to be big for them and our league," Cronin said.

They're determined to avoid what happened last season, opening with troubling losses to Wagner and Northeastern.

"We want to get in the top 25 probably before conference play even starts," Adams said. "We know what happened last year. We know this year we can't have those early mistakes because that will definitely set you for a downfall."

News and notes

• Wichita State coach Gregg Marshall on joining the AAC: "I think it's great. Great coaches, great teams and great players. Names in college basketball: UConn, Cincinnati, Memphis, SMU recently, and UCF. So we're just excited about the opportunity." ... SMU junior guard Shake Milton is the preseason player of the year. He joined Adams, Houston's Rob Gray, UCF's B.J Taylor and Wichita State's Landry Shamet on the first team. Second team included UCF's Tacko Fall, Tulsa's Junior Etou, and Cincinnati's Gary Clark, Kyle Washington and Jacob Evans. ... When asked about the eight newcomers on the Huskies, Larrier said freshman forward Isaiah Whaley has stood out the most. "He's been really, really active on the boards and running the floor. He dunks everything. I think he's going to be a huge key for us."

g.keefe@theday.com