Trouble ahead: Predicting entire Duke basketball roster next season

No. 68 on the 247Sports 2017 Composite

Like Goldwire, Alex O’Connell is a Georgia native (Milton High School) who may be in a position to graduate come May and thereby have the option to play right away for another NCAA program next season. Like Goldwire, though, it would be a bit of a surprise if O’Connell — son of Dave O’Connell, who played for Duke in the mid-1970s — was to ditch Durham after this season to seek greener pastures at some other college for a year.

https://twitter.com/DukeMBB/status/1197750629818667008?s=20

After all, though O’Connell’s inconsistencies as a defender and frequent boneheaded decisions on offense — not to mention his disappointing 26.0 percent 3-point clip this season — have often locked him inside Coach K’s doghouse down the stretch of close games, he hasn’t shown signs of being unhappy. In fact, his seemingly unbridled joy just to be a Blue Devil too often comes across as utter goofiness.

Sure, his stagnant improvement so far from one year to the next — 3.3, 4.4, and now 5.5 points per game as a junior — suggests O’Connell would again begin most games on the bench as a senior. That said, Ball Durham sees neither him nor Goldwire causing a fuss should they end up playing backup next season to a pair of incoming five-star guards (upcoming here).

Speaking of incoming talent, on to the next predicted roster piece…