The good news for the UC Bearcats is they're No. 21 in college basketball's updated preseason Top 25 for the 2017-18 season by USA TODAY Sports' Scott Gleeson.
The bad news: the AAC's newest member, Wichita State, ranks No. 4.
Kentucky ranks No. 6 in the updated preseason Top 25, and Xavier ranks No. 12.
Here are the UC, Xavier and UK capsules from Gleeson:
21. Cincinnati (30-6)
Coach Mick Cronin has most of the nucleus back from a 30-win squad, including the top three scorers Jacob Evans, Kyle Washington and Gary Clark.