Good morning to all of you out there in DFS land! Our first Sunday with NFL action coupled with CBB play. You have managed to find yourself in a great spot here at DFS Army. I look forward to providing you with analysis and picks throughout this 2018-2019 CBB season! Let’s take a look at what games Draftkings has decided to include on their “Early Slate”. The KenPom score projections are in parenthesis.
Southern Mississippi (63) vs SMU (75)
Florida Atlantic (59) vs UCF (78)
SE Louisiana (61) vs Nebraska (82)
IPFW (68) vs Ohio St (83)
Lamar (74) vs ECU (76)
Let’s take a look at a few cash and GPP plays for each team!
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Southern Mississippi (63)
The issue with Southern Miss is the fact that most players are priced up after they put up 111 points in game 1 of the season. Couple that with the fact that they are projected to score just 63 points, the third lowest total on the slate, and you can see why I am hesitant to have any exposure to this team. I think Holland, Stevenson, Harper-Baker, and Marshall are in play for random GPP lineups as they are priced between $3800 and $4400. Stevenson interests me the most as he put up a 15 point, 7 rebound performance in just 12 minutes. Holland starts and is only $3800.
SMU (75)
I normally would be a fan of SMU as their rotation is pretty tight and the starters play a ton of minutes. This game I just don’t know how much I can get on board with them as every starter is priced at $6100 and up. Whitt had an awesome game 1, so his price jumped up. McMurray was pretty non-existent in game 1 even though he took the same number of shots as Whitt and yet his price increased as well. I think the two tournament plays for SMU are the starting forwards, Isaiah Mike and Ethan Chargois. Mike saw his price drop $1900 from the first game after he dealt with foul trouble and shot the ball pretty horribly.
FAU (59)
Florida Atlantic played a pretty wide rotation as 10 players saw 11+ minutes of court time. With this team having the lowest projected team total we really need to temper our expectations. I have a lot of interest in Ingram as he is going to be needed on the glass in this one. With such a low total, I can’t really suggest any of these guys in cash. I will definitely be plugging Ingram into GPP lineups along with Stapleton, Adger, Forrest, and Silins. The duo of Silins and Forrest intrigue me purely based on the fact that they both started and are priced at $3800 and $4300 respectively.
UCF (78)
I believe that the entire starting 5 for UCF are in play in this game. UCF utilizes a pretty tight rotation, which could be even tighter should Fall be able to avoid foul trouble. The two guys that I want exposure to in cash and GPPs are Aubrey Dawkins and Collin Smith. Dawkins put up a combined 21 shots in 31 minutes of play and Smith put up 25 shots in 30 minutes. When I say shots, I add their FG attempts with their FT attempts to get my own usage number.
SE Louisiana (61)
It seems the DK pricing algorithm has either decided that SELA will be running on wobbly legs (3rd game in 6 days to start the season) or they are going to get run out of the gym by Nebraska. Only two players are priced above $3900 and while they are the two best players on the team, they are not the only two in play. Greenwood, Veal, Brewer, and Edwards are all very much in play on this slate for both GPPs and cash. My favorite play is Edwards as he walks into the gym ready to fire away at the hoop.
Nebraska (82)
Nebraska is projected to put up the second highest total on the slate, plus their prices are suppressed slightly due to the huge blowout in game 1. My favorite play is James Palmer as he put up 36.25 fantasy points in just 20 minutes on Tuesday. I can make a case to play all of Watson, Roby, Copeland, Allen, Heiman, and Akenten in GPPs on this slate. The two that intrigue me the most are Heiman and Akenten. Heiman went for 9 points and 13 boards in game 1, while Akenten came off the bench and managed to put up 17 total shots (FG + FT) in just 13 minutes of play.
IPFW (68)
I love when smaller schools have a usage monster on their roster as they just seem to do anything and everything for their team. This is the case with IPFW as John Konchar is a 6-5 guard who has averaged over 8.5 rebounds per game over his first three seasons. He managed a 25-8-6 line against UCLA to begin the season. I will be locking him into every lineup that I build for this slate thanks to his $7900 price tag. He has a couple of teammates that interest me for GPP play as Godfrey is coming off of a 41 fantasy point game in just 19 minutes of play and De Berry is coming off of a 14 and 7 performance.
Ohio St (83)
One of the first things I noticed with IPFW is how extremely guard heavy they are. That sets up Kaleb Wesson to be able to do whatever he wants in the paint in this game. Ohio St is coming off of a very tough game against a grinding Cincinnati team, so their numbers will seem to be a bit suppressed. Kyle Young is a solid cash play at $6800 as he should be able to clean up the boards whenever Wesson doesn’t. I have an interest in two other Buckeyes as I think CJ Jackson should not be priced at just $5400. Luther Muhammad is an extremely talented freshman scorer and at some point, he will be more expensive than his current $4600 price tag.
Lamar (74)
When it comes to Lamar, we need to find news on Jordan Hunter’s status as he did not play in the second game. This news is extremely important as two players get big increases should he not take the floor. Both TJ Atwood and VJ Holmes become near locks at their price points with the increase in both minutes and usage. I am locking Atwood in anyways, however, Holmes saw a 15-minute increase without Hunter on the floor. I think that Nzeakor, Garth and Easter are all possible GPP options on this slate as both Nzeakor and Garth have solid usage numbers while Easter is the minimum.
ECU (76)
I am not sure what to do with ECU in this game as I do not like some of the prices, however, this game could be extremely competitive and that always leads to fantasy points down the stretch. Fleming is a solid cash play as he should offer a floor of around 4x thanks to his defensive abilities. My favorite play from ECU is the transfer from Virginia Tech, Seth LeDay. He has averaged nearly a 6x return on his current price tag so far this season. I wish he would be in the starting lineup, however, all that matters is that he continues to see mid 20’s minutes. I will have a few GPP shares of Jayden Gardner as he is just $3500 and has been in the starting lineup to begin the season. He is averaging over 20 minutes per game and while he has shot just 1 for 12 to begin the season, he has been to the FT line 14 times so far. If he manages to make a few shots from the field we could be looking at a 23-25 fantasy point game out of his $3500 salary.
There you have it ladies and gents, the early slate for DK. Let’s make sure we keep attacking the GPPs so that the site has a reason to bring back the bigger prize pools for us to take down! Best of luck and I hope to see you guys at the top!
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