Wake Forest Athletics
Deacons Picked Third In ACC Preseason Basketball Poll
10/26/2003 12:00:00 AM | Men's Basketball
Oct. 26, 2003
Defending regular season champion Wake Forest was tabbed to finish third in the ACC men's basketball race in a survey of the media at Operation ACC Basketball in Greensboro today.
The Demon Deacons return four starters from a team that finished 25-6 overall, 13-3 in the ACC and on top of the league standings for just the fourth time in school history.
Duke received all but two first-place votes and was picked first in the poll. North Carolina, which finished second, and third-place Wake Forest received the other two first-place votes.
Wake Forest was followed in the poll by NC State, Maryland, Florida State, Georgia Tech, Virginia and Clemson.
"This sounds like coachspeak, but we don't pay too much attention to the preseason polls," Wake Forest head coach Skip Prosser said. "We just try to work hard and get better every day. I think we will play with extreme passion and we are cognitive of the fact that we have to play that way to win."
Wake Forest junior forward Vytas Danelius was named to the Preseason All-ACC Team. Danelius was joined on the team by preseason player of the year Raymond Felton (North Carolina), Julius Hodge (NC State), J.J. Redick (Duke), and Tim Pickett (Florida State).
Wake Forest will open the season with an exhibition game Nov. 3 against EA Sports at Lawrence Joel Coliseum (7 p.m. start).
