Duke Basketball: One Bold Prediction About Each Player on the Roster for 2011-12

Duke Basketball has a lot of good players, so it's only fair to make predictions about each individually. Duke has been highly successful in college basketball, and that is due in large part to their talented players.

The team has lost Kyrie Irving, Nolan Smith and Kyle Singler, but they still have a plethora of talented guards, and a good amount of excellent forwards.

Duke could be a contender for an NCAA Tournament Championship this season. These talented athletes will be led by Mike Krzyzewski, a true mastermind of college basketball.

Quinn Cook Becomes the Starting Point Guard by the End of the Season

Quinn Cook is going to be a freshman this season. He will probably start the season behind Tyler Thornton or Seth Curry as the starting point guard, but he will emerge as a great player and take the starting role.

Cook could very well become a great point guard one day. He has great speed and quickness, not to mention his ball-handling skills and excellent court vision.

Cook can also hit his open-jumpers well. He may be streaky at times, but when he's doing well he can knock down four or five jumpers in a row.

Cook needs to learn not to try to do too much. He still tries to make up for a mistake by making a tough shot, but that is not what the team needs. When he matures a bit and grows out of this habit, he will become the starter for the Blue Devils.

Seth Curry Will Shoot Around 50 Percent from Three

Seth Curry is going to be a junior this season. He is a sharp-shooting guard who transferred to Duke from Liberty after the 2008-09 season.

Curry has a knack for knocking down threes, and he has been constantly improving. He shot 34.7 from three in his freshman season at Liberty, and 43.5 percent in his sophomore season at Duke.

Curry's percentage from three improved by 8.8 percent from one year to the next, and he is still working to improve.

Curry is going to jump up to about 50 percent this year. That's only a 6.5 percent improvement; an attainable goal.

Curry went 16-for-32 from three in his final seven games of the 2010-11 season, an even 50 percent.

Curry should shoot at least 49.5 percent from three this season, which would round up to 50 percent.

Andre Dawkins Will Lose Minutes Despite Offensive Production

Andre Dawkins is going to be a junior guard this season for Duke, and he is an offensive threat.

Dawkins can light it up from three, and he is essentially the same player as Curry except that he is a slightly worse shooter and ball-handler.

Dawkins played 21 minutes per game in 37 games last season for a total of 778 minutes. He could shoot threes very well, averaging shooting 42.7 percent, but he will lose playing time.

Dawkins is going to be playing behind freshman sensation Austin Rivers, and he will be forced to come off the bench.

Dawkins is going to be instant-offense off the bench, but he is not going to be playing more than 15 minutes per game.

Michael Gbinije Will Play More Minutes Than Expected

Michael Gbinije is going to be a freshman for the Duke Blue Devils this season. He is coming from Benedictine High School in Chester, VA.

Gbinije is a fundamentally-sound small forward. He is exactly the type of player Mike Krzyzewski loves to coach, and he should have an easy transition to the college level.

Gbinije is very smooth, and he can do whatever it takes to win, but he is not as aggressive as he needs to be. If Krzyzewski can improve Gbinije's killer instinct and aggressiveness, he will play a big role in Duke's gameplan.

I would have made my prediction something along the lines of: Gbinije will be Coach K's favorite freshman, but that role will be filled by Austin Rivers.

Gbinije is going to play around 20 minutes per game, which is a substantial amount for a freshman who is playing for a team with more than a dozen good players.

Josh Hairston Will Transfer at the End of the Season

Josh Hairston is going to be a sophomore for the Duke Blue Devils this season.

Hairston is a "tweener-forward," but not in a good way. While some players like Derrick Williams are capable of playing either forward position, Hairston is too big to play small forward, but too short to play power forward.

Hairston gained 25 pounds over the offseason. Hairston now weighs 235 pounds, the same weight as all three Plumlee brothers, who happen to be 6'10" each. Hairston is only 6'7", which is usually too short for a player to be an elite power forward.

Hairston's body type is not what it needs to be if he wants to earn some playing time.

With a total of eight forwards on the roster, it's going to be very hard for Hairston to get playing time, and that will lead to him transferring.

Hairston was an ESPNU Top 100 recruit coming into the 2010-11 season. He was also recruited by Ohio State, Georgetown, Virginia and Virginia Tech. Hairston was an elite recruit, but he did not play as often as one last season.

Hairston only played 6.1 minutes per game last season, averaging 1.4 points and 1.2 rebounds per game. He bulked up in order to earn some more playing time, but seeing as he won't get much more, he will decide to transfer to a different school.

Ryan Kelly Is Going to Break out This Season

Ryan Kelly is going to be a junior for the Duke Blue Devils this season. He is a forward for the team, and he could be on the verge of breaking out.

Kelly is a 6'11" 230-pound forward for the Blue Devils. He has worked on his jumper, and has become a much better player.

Kelly improved his game in the second half of the season, scoring double-digit points in six of his last 15 games, including a 20-point breakout against Wake Forest. Kelly went the first 10 games of the season without scoring double-digit points, but he greatly improved throughout the season.

Kelly is now capable of driving or shooting. He seems to be a taller Kyle Singler from a few years ago. Kelly could be on the verge of having a breakout year, and he will have one in the 2011-12 season.

David Mayer Will Play the First Minute of His College Career

David Mayer will be a sophomore this season for Duke, but he did not play at all last season.

Even with Duke having so many other good guards, Mayer will play at least one minute at the end of a blow-out game in the beginning of the season.

Alex Murphy Will Be a Bust

Alex Murphy decided to graduate from high school one year early to play for the Duke Blue Devils this season. He will be a freshman forward for the team.

Murphy is ranked No. 40 in the ESPNU Top 100 for the 2012 recruiting class. He is a versatile forward with good size, skill and athleticism.

Murphy is not very strong, and he will not be able to match up inside with power forwards in the ACC. He is also not quick enough to laterally defend small forwards.

Murphy still needs to work on becoming more explosive on the offensive side, and he needs to become a more consistent rebounder as well.

Once Murphy establishes himself as either a small or power forward he could become a good player, but that will not happen this season.

Marshall Plumlee Will Have a Solid Freshman Season

Marshall Plumlee is going to be a freshman for Duke this season. He is the third Plumlee to join the team, but a lot of people are questioning how he will transition because of his size.

Marshall is 6'10" just like his brothers, and he was listed at 215 lbs. He then gained 20 pounds in order to bulk up to be fit for the college level.

Marshall's size was the one question mark that everyone was concerned about, but he is now the exact same size as his brother Mason.

Marshall just needs to become a bit more consistent, and he will be a solid player in college. Since he added weight, I see him having a solid freshman season.

Mason Plumlee Will Play Fewer Minutes Than Last Season

Mason Plumlee is returning to Duke for his junior season after considering the NBA, but he would not have been good enough for the NBA.

Plumlee played 25.6 minutes per game last season for a total of 949 minutes. He averaged 7.2 points and 8.4 rebounds per game last year.

Plumlee is going to be one of eight forwards on the team this season, and that will lead to a lack of playing time. With Ryan Kelly stepping up this season he will play a lot of minutes. Michael Gbinije will play more minutes than expected, and that will cut into Mason's time.

Last season there were only five impact-forwards, but there will be seven this time. With so many players jockeying for time, Mason will lose time.

Mason was very inconsistent last season, but he finished it with a stretch of games in which he did not perform up to his potential. If Plumlee does not improve in a very noticeable way, he will lose playing time.

Miles Plumlee's Senior Season Will Be His Best by Far

Miles Plumlee is going to be the only senior on the roster for Duke this season. We know that Mike Krzyzewski loves senior leadership, and he will turn to Miles for that.

Miles has never played 20 or more minutes per game in a season, but that will change this season. Miles has been a solid player before, but he has never been given the chance to excel. Now that he is a senior, Coach K will give him that opportunity.

Miles averaged 5.2 points and 4.9 rebounds during his sophomore season, which was his best. He does not have high expectations to live up to because he hasn't had a lot of playing time in the past.

Miles is a 6'10" 245-pound forward, making him the biggest on the team. Coach K will use him down-low as their main post threat, and to grab rebounds.

Fans may be shocked when Miles jumps up to about 25 minutes per game when his brother Mason plays less time, but they will not complain when he averages about eight points and nine rebounds per game.

Austin Rivers Wins ACC Rookie of the Year

Austin Rivers was a coveted recruit, but he is going to be a freshman for the Duke Blue Devils this season.

Rivers is an offensive machine. He can drive aggressively and finish through contact. He has an NBA-ready floater. He has range out to about 30 feet. He has a nice step-back jumper. He loves getting the ball in pressure situations.

Rivers is going to be the leading scorer for the Blue Devils. Looking at their roster, you can tell that he will be their offensive threat, and he will be the one taking big shots.

Despite being only a freshman, Rivers is going to help lead the team, and that will contribute to his winning the ACC Rookie of the Year.

The ACC's best recruits are going to North Carolina (James McAdoo, P.J. Hairston) and Duke (Rivers, Marshall Plumlee, Michael Gbinije, Quinn Cook). McAdoo and Hairston are both playing for a stacked UNC team, and both could be riding the bench.

The only other Top 50 recruit in the ACC not playing for UNC or Duke is Dorian Finney-Smith who will be playing for Virginia Tech. DFS is not on the same level as Rivers, and he will not factor into the Rookie of the Year conversation.

Rivers is going to win the ACC Rookie of the Year by a wide margin.

Tyler Thornton Will Lose the Starting Point Guard Spot

Tyler Thornton is a sophomore point guard for the Duke Blue Devils, and he is going to start in the beginning of the season.

Thornton is a pass-first point guard who can score if necessary, but prefers to create for others. In less than 10 minutes per game, Thornton still averaged 1.0 assists per contest. He is going to be starting for the Blue Devils, and playing around 20 minutes per game to start.

Thornton will only hold onto the starting spot until either Seth Curry or Quinn Cook prove that they are the better option.

Curry is a great shooter, so he might stick to shooting guard, but he also has good ball-handling skills.

Cook is a scoring threat with great vision and decision making. He is going to be the starting point guard for the Blue Devils eventually, and probably this season.

Thornton will start because he was given some experience last season, but he is going to be platooning with Cook.

I see the change coming after about 25 games, and once Cook has matured.

Todd Zafirovski Will Stay with the Team After the Season

Todd Zafirovski is going to be a junior for the Blue Devils. He has played a total of 11 minutes in five games for Duke, all of which came last season.

Zafirovski is more focused on his education at Duke than playing time, and even with a lot of players being on the roster, he is guaranteed at least one start on senior night next season.

Zafirovski has enjoyed playing under Coach K, and because he was not recruited by many programs, he will be willing to stay with the team for his senior season despite not playing much (if at all) in his junior season.