Wake Forest was picked to finish third in the ACC, as predicted by a media vote.

The Deacons haven’t finished in the top three of the ACC since the league had 12 teams — it’s up to 18 now, with this year’s additions of California, Stanford and SMU — and one of those was Maryland. Wake Forest finished in third place in in the 2008-09 season, the middle of Dino Gaudio’s three seasons as coach.

Wake’s highest finish in the ACC over the past 15 seasons has been fifth — getting to that spot for the 2009-10 season and again last year. The Deacons were picked to finish sixth in last year’s preseason poll and finished fifth.

Senior guard Hunter Sallis was picked to the preseason All-ACC team, garnering 52 of a possible 54 votes. He was a first-team pick last season, finishing fifth in the league in scoring (18.03 per game). He received three votes as preseason player of the year, finishing behind last year’s winner (RJ Davis of UNC) and Duke freshman Cooper Flagg.

Here is the full list of preseason picks, starting with projected standings:

1. Duke (42 first-place votes)

2. UNC (11)

3. Wake Forest (1)

4. Clemson

5. Virginia

6. Miami

7. Pittsburgh

8. N.C. State

9. Louisville

10. Notre Dame

11. Syracuse

12. Georgia Tech

13. SMU

14. Virginia Tech

15. Florida State

16. California

17. Stanford

18. Boston College

Preseason All-ACC first-team (votes received)

RJ Davis, UNC (54, unanimous)

Cooper Flagg, Duke (52)

Hunter Sallis, WF (52)

Markus Burton, ND (41)

Nijel Pack, Miami (37)

Preseason All-ACC second-team (votes received)

Ian Schieffelin, Clemson (36)

Chase Hunter, Clemson (31)

Jamir Watkins, FSU (26)

Baye Ndongo, GT (21)

Ishmael Leggett, Pitt (20)

Preseason player of the year results (votes received)

RJ Davis, UNC (40)

Cooper Flagg, Duke (10)

Hunter Sallis, WF (3)

Maxime Raynaud, Stanford (1)

Preseason rookie of the year

Cooper Flagg, Duke (53)

Jeremiah Wilkinson, Cal (1)