CHICAGO, Ill. -- After suffering a massive heart attack a little more than a month ago, Cincinnati coach Bob Huggins insists the few changes he's made to his life have been small and mostly personal.

He eats better. He exercises. He tires more easily and sleeps longer. But Huggins, who returned to practice two weeks after the heart attack, said fans can expect to see the same fiery, bombastic coach pacing the sidelines for the Bearcats this season.

"I don't think there is a lot of concern about me falling asleep on the bench,'' Huggins said Sunday at the Conference USA media day. "I'm great. I'm feeling really great.''

Huggins, speaking quietly and joking often with reporters, suffered a heart attack on Sept. 28 at the Pittsburgh airport while waiting for a flight to Milwaukee. Had he gotten on the plane, Huggins doesn't think he would have gotten off alive.

Not that Huggins has dwelled on it much since then.

"I try to do what I'm supposed to do and keep moving forward. I haven't sat around and thought about it,'' he said. "I was in the hospital for 11 days and I didn't think about that. I was just thinking about getting out.''

He returns to find expectations where the always are for the Bearcats: at the top of the conference.

Cincinnati was picked by coaches to win the league title for the eighth straight year despite losing four starters, including All-American guard Steve Logan. The Bearcats are led by returning starter Leonard Stokes and sophomore Jason Maxiell, who was selected by coaches to the preseason all-conference team.

Marquette's Dwyane Wade, a junior who averaged 17.8 points and 6.6 rebounds per game last season, was picked as the preseason player of the year.

Also on the preseason all-conference team are Reece Gaines of Louisville, Marque Perry of Saint Louis and Andre Brown of DePaul.

Marquette was picked to finish second in the American Division with Louisville third. The coaches voted Memphis as the top team in the National Division, followed by Tulane and Houston.

Marquette, coming off a 26-7 season, lost three players in the offseason. Freshmen Kevin Menard and Ron Howard and sophomore Odartey Blankson all transferred out of the program, leaving coach Tom Crean with a team of 10 scholarship players and a one walk-on.

So it's no surprise Crean is expecting Wade to play a bigger role a year after the 6-5 guard led the Golden Eagles in scoring and rebounding last season.

"The whole thing with him comes down to how complete a player can he be on both ends of the court,'' he said. "There's going to be a lot of focus put on stopping him and it's important that he learn to adjust and figure out how we're going to win the game.''

The conference has four new coaches this season, with Neil Dougherty taking over at TCU, Mike Anderson at UAB, Dave Leitao at DePaul and Brad Soderberg at Saint Louis.

With high turnover among coaches and players, Louisville coach Rick Pitino said he couldn't name three starting players on any team other than his own. And though he agreed Cincinnati is the team to beat, he said the conference should be wide open.

"Houston could be the best team in the league and I wouldn't know it,'' he said.

That isn't likely with Huggins back at Cincinnati.

The Bearcats coach flew into O'Hare International Airport on a private jet for media day, one of the few changes he's allowed since the heart attack. Even that was a concession he resisted.

"I'm fine. I could have flown commercial. They just thought if I flew in a private plane everybody would think I was as important as (John) Calipari,'' he joked.

Calipari, a longtime friend of Huggins, went to see the Cincinnati coach in the hospital the day after the heart attack. The Memphis coach left after few minutes, shaken by the sight of seeing the 49-year-old Huggins lying in a hospital bed.

"He's going to be fine. This was a true wake up,'' he said. "He's a strong man. He's going to take care of himself, I have no doubt.''