There are two assumptions that keep popping up and I'm wondering what people on this board think about the validity of these assumptions:

#1: Quinn is likely to win the starting point guard spot.
#2: Amile is going to spend time on the perimeter (i.e. play the 3).

Personally, I think #1 is much more likely than #2. I haven't seen Amile play much besides in highlight videos, but I get the feeling that any minutes he gets will be at the 4. It doesn't seem like he has the offensive game of a SF, so even if he does have the lateral quickness to guard SFs, would K put a non-perimeter-oriented offensive player at the 3? I've seen the suggestion on this board that perhaps he can play the 4 on offense and the 3 on defense while Ryan does the opposite. I suppose that's a possibility.

I've read some previews suggesting that Josh has a chance to win the starting SF spot. I don't think the people writing this have any idea what they're talking about. I'm hoping that by now, his junior year, the game has slowed down for Josh and that he can offer solid minutes backing up Ryan, but I don't think there's anything about his game that makes him a viable option at the 3.

I'm personally most curious about Alex -- I'm wondering what exactly the coaching staff expects his role to be. Do they look at him strictly as a SF and are they going to develop him as a perimeter player? Are they going to build him in that 3/4 hybrid mode? Looking at this year's 6 scholarship players over 6'4", Alex seems the most likely to spend any time on the perimeter. It makes sense to me that Alex would spend more time at the 3 than at the 4 just based on the balance of players on this year's roster.

I like the look of this roster breakdown:

1: Quinn, Tyler (maybe a tiny bit of Seth/Rasheed)
2-3: Seth, Rasheed, Alex
4-5: Mason, Ryan, Josh, Amile, Marshall (maybe a bit of Alex)

As for my expectations (specific and general):

-I think it's pretty likely that Duke will beat Kentucky -- I honestly don't expect Kentucky to be very good this year. Their freshman class doesn't look as impressive as those of the past couple of years and, unlike the past couple of years, they have no one with notable experience returning like Terrence Jones, Darius Miller, Patrick Patterson, or even Josh Harrellson. Duke's 3-man senior class will have a bigger impact than most are expecting, particularly early in the season.
-UNC won't be an NCAA top-4 seed -- I think UNC's roster is filled with a lot of mediocrity. In particular, they have a glut of decent wings. In my opinion, James McAdoo is heavily overrated but is at the same time UNC's only hope to have an excellent season.
-If Duke can stay relatively healthy, a Final Four is certainly possible -- The past two seasons have been severely impacted by injuries to key players (perhaps making up for the relatively good health we enjoyed in 2010). If K can establish a team identity early on and this team can defend/rebound, I can't see Duke getting lower than a 2 seed.