Good morning to you beautiful people out there in DFS land! 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! Remember, if I mention a player as a cash game play they most likely are OK for GPP play. Let’s take a look at what games are on the slate for DraftKings. The KenPom score projections are in parenthesis.
Michigan (65) vs Maryland (64)
ECU (63) vs Tulsa (75)
Washington (68) vs Stanford (65)
Marshall (71) vs North Texas (77)
Boston College (64) vs Georgia Tech (67)
Northwestern (65) vs Illinois (70)
Arizona St (72) vs Oregon St (74)
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MICHIGAN vs MARYLAND
Michigan is a bit in flux as we have to wait for the word on Matthews’ status. If I hear that he is 100% good-to-go I will get some exposure as he was the most active against Maryland the first meeting. I think Simpson is the best play as it stands right now for Michigan. He actually has performed better on the road this season and his solid steal rate intrigues me. We have been plugging Teske in as a cash play recently but there is enough concern about his individual match-up that I will leave him as a GPP play. I don’t see myself using Poole at all and Brazdeikis does have GPP upside to go with a lower floor. If Matthews is out or limited, look for Livers to be a strong play with Castleton or Eli Brooks as a GPP dart.
Fernando is really the only player I am interested in from Maryland. I have been using bigs against Michigan all season and I am not going to stop now. I could understand a Jalen Smith or Eric Ayala GPP dart play as Smith could perform in the paint and if Michigan is going to collapse on Fernando, Ayala could get hot from 3.
Preferred Plays: Simpson, Fernando
ECU vs TULSA
ECU is a pretty bad team, especially on the road. They do have a few players that are very intriguing for this slate. Gardner is a strong GPP play but as much as I love his upside, I am afraid of the floor. LeDay has GPP upside but is clearly behind Gardner in my eyes. I really like Williams and Fleming in this match-up. Williams is a shooter who can knock down a ton of threes. Both guys did work against Tulsa in the last match-up.
Normally I would be all over Jeffries as a lock in this match-up, however, he is just 1 game removed from returning from a concussion. Horne and Igbanu are probably where I end up going for GPP purposes. Igbanu has been safer than Horne recently but Horne has the greater upside. Joiner and Scott are OK GPP plug-ins while Jackson interests me as a GPP dart play at his cheap price point.
Preferred Plays: S.Williams, Horne
WASHINGTON vs STANFORD
For Washington, I really like Nowell as a solid cash option and Thybulle as a GPP winning plug-in. Crisp has really shown his ability this season so I think he can certainly be used for cash and GPPs at this point. Dickerson is just a GPP dart play as I can’t get him figured out at this point in the season.
For Stanford, I really like Okpala as a GPP play in this game. He looked pretty strong the last time out so I think he can be a game-changer for your GPP lineups. Sharma is still a cash game play, especially at home. We need to find the status on D.Davis as he keeps hurting himself. I do not necessarily want him but should he be out, Wills becomes an interesting value option on this slate.
Preferred Plays: Thybulle, Okpala, Sharma
MARSHALL vs NORTH TEXAS
I do not like to target Marshall players away from home as they all seem to struggle. With that said, Elmore is coming off of a monster road game so we have to consider him for GPPs even though I believe I will be fading him. Kinsey is my preferred play as he seems to play the best on the road. Williams and Watson are guys I will put into some GPPs with Burks being just a blah option for me on this slate.
Woolridge is a solid cash option for NT, even though he is coming off of a couple of subpar performances. I really like Gibson as a strong GPP play with some value in our cash lineups. I think Smart is another GPP option from NT in an up-tempo match-up. I don’t have a ton of interest in Miller or Z.Simmons.
Preferred Plays: Kinsey, Woolridge, Gibson
BOSTON COLLEGE vs GEORGIA TECH
I think Bowman is one of the strongest and safest plays on this slate, it’s just a matter of being able to afford him comfortably. At this point, I have to assume Tabbs is out again which means that Jared Hamilton should be in the starting lineup again. He is in play as a salary saver for us. Chatman and Mitchell are interesting GPP plays for me.
GT is a sneaky team to target for DFS as a couple of guys are capable of putting up monster stat lines. Banks is in play as a GPP play but just be ready to sweat a pretty low floor. I really like Alvarado and Moses Wright and will have a lot of them across cash and GPPs. Sjolund is still in play for me as long as he starts for just $3K on DK.
Preferred Plays: Bowman, Alvarado, M.Wright
NORTHWESTERN vs ILLINOIS
This game doesn’t excite me all that much. For Northwestern, I am really only considering using Pardon as a cash play and Gaines as a nice GPP option for just $5K on DK. Law is much better at home than he is on the road so I do not want to pay that tag. The other Northwestern options are less than appealing.
For Illinois, I like Dosunmu as a GPP play and Bezhanishvili as a GPP/cash option as I have been targeting the post against Northwestern all season long. Feliz makes my list as a value option because of the minutes he has been seeing of late.
Preferred Plays: Pardon, Bezhanishvili
ARIZONA ST vs OREGON ST
Normally I love targeting ASU players, but right now they just don’t seem to have the same explosiveness. Cheatham is always in play as he offers us a great upside but he has been really bad recently. Dort or Martin could go nuts in this spot but I can’t figure out which one it is going to be. I think Edwards is intriguing for GPPs thanks to his three-point shooting. Lake has been playing the best of the 4 big man rotation for the other spot. I think he makes sense as a salary saver.
Tinkle is probably the safest pay up options on this slate. I generally try to use one of the Thompsons every slate they are on and while I lean Stephen, I wouldn’t fault you for taking the salary savings with Ethan. The only other guy I would consider for GPPs is Kelley based purely on rebounds and blocks.
Preferred Plays: Lake, Tinkle
Make sure you tune in to the slack channel to get my updates as news comes out! We will be discussing CBB all afternoon and evening long. I will be updating my Coaches-Notes throughout the day and we will discuss what injuries we need to monitor and what they mean to our construction. I will also be posting my cores for each site in slack!