Louisville picked to win AAC; UConn 7th

Louisville, Cincinnati and Rutgers, who were among four teams to finish tied for the 2012 Big East title, were selected as the top three teams in the American Athletic Conference preseason balloting.

Louisville received 28 of the 30 first-place votes.

UConn was picked to finish seventh in a balloting of selected media. The Huskies are coming off back to back 5-7 seasons and have to replace six starters off one of the nation's best defenses. However, the offense features the return of starting quarterback Chandler Whitmer, leading rusher Lyle McCombs, the two top receivers in Geremy Davis and Shakim Phillips and six offensive linemen who started games a season ago. The defense will be led by 2012 All-Big East linebacker Yawin Smallwood.

UConn will open practice on Friday.

Here is the preseason poll with first-place votes in parenthesis.

1. Louisville (28) 298
2. Cincinnati (2) 257
3. Rutgers          240
4. UCF              210
5. USF              155
6. Houston        134
7. UConn          131
8. SMU            118
9. Temple          60
10. Memphis     47