Wake Forest No. 2 In Associated Press Preseason Poll
11/8/2004 12:00:00 AM | Men's Basketball
Nov. 8, 2004
Wake Forest will enter the 2004-05 basketball season with its highest Associated Press preseason ranking ever as the Deacons are No. 2 in the poll released today.
Kansas earned the AP's No. 1 ranking with 25 first-place votes and 1,697 points from the national media panel, edging Wake Forest, which had 22 first-place votes and 1,680 points. The Demon Deacons were the first of three straight Atlantic Coast Conference teams in the poll, and six teams from the league were in the Top 25.
"I think you could put several ACC teams in a bushel, shake them around and one team would be No. 2," Wake Forest coach Skip Prosser said. "That's how strong the ACC is.
"I am happy for our players and our fans, but our job as a team is to be the best team in the gym on November 15th."
Wake Forest, which plays Winston-Salem State Thursday in an exhibition game, opens the regular season Nov. 15 against George Washington in the opening round of the Preseason NIT.
Georgia Tech and North Carolina were third and fourth in the balloting. It is the second time in three years one conference has had the Nos. 2-4 in the preseason poll. The Big 12's Kansas, Oklahoma and Texas were in that order in 2002. No. 11 Duke, No. 15 Maryland and No. 19 North Carolina State round out the ACC teams in the poll.
Syracuse was sixth, followed by Oklahoma State, defending national champion Connecticut, Kentucky and Arizona. After Duke came Mississippi State, Michigan State, Louisville, Maryland, Texas, Pittsburgh, Alabama, NC State and Notre Dame. The last five teams in the poll were Wisconsin, Washington, Florida, Memphis and Gonzaga.
The Demon Deacons are preseason top five in the AP poll for just the third time in school history. The Tim Duncan-led Deacons of 1996-97 carried a No. 4 preseason ranking and the 1961-62 Wake Forest team, which ultimately made it to the Final Four, was preseason No. 3.
The No. 2 ranking in the AP poll matches Wake Forest's highest ranking ever. The Demon Deacons were ranked No. 2 for 10 weeks (non-consecutive) in 1996-97. Only Maryland (23 times) and Louisville (16) have been ranked No. 2 more often without ever reaching No. 1.
Last year eventual NCAA champion Connecticut was No. 1 in the preseason poll, followed by Duke at No. 2.
Since the AP poll originated in the late 1940s, Wake Forest has been ranked in the top 10 76 weeks. The Deacons have been in the top five 29 weeks.
The Associated Press preseason All-American team will be announced tomorrow.
