DFS College Basketball: Thanksgiving Day Preview

DFS College Basketball: Thanksgiving Day Preview

This article is part of our DFS College Basketball series.

Welcome to Day 2 of the college basketball season. If today's your first day playing, I'd recommend taking a good look at yesterday's preview, which runs down all of the most popular CBB-centric tools on RotoWire. With that out of the way, let's jump right in.

Editor's Note: We'll normally skip a slate write-up if it's just two games, but today we'll toss in a couple plays for the late slate as well.

3 Targets

Early Slate

1.Trey McGowens, G, Nebraska ($6,400 DK, $7,400 FD)

Immediately eligible after transferring from Pittsburgh, McGowens is instantly Nebraska's best player. He was only on the court for 19 minutes in the opener, but keep in mind it was a 47-point blowout. In those 19 minutes, he put up 14 points, three rebounds, three assists and three steals. His usage rate of 27.3 percent was the highest among all starters. 

2. David McCormack, F, Kansas ($6,500 DK, $6,200 FD)

The heir apparent to Udoka Azubuike, McCormack only needed 14.7 minutes to accrue 6.9 points and 4.1 rebounds as a sophomore. He gets a pace-boosted matchup against Gonzaga in the opener, and while the Zags are defensively sound, McCormack is a more imposing physical presence than Drew Timme, who will likely be tasked with defending him. Fouls are really the only risk here.

BONUS: Bryce Thompson, G, Kansas ($3,000 DK, $4,600 FD)

You're playing with fire when talking about Kansas freshman, but CJ Moore of the Athletic predicted Thompson could have a spot in the starting five just days ago, with a projected average of 23 mpg. That's plenty to hit the 4x needed for cash games for a minimum-price player.

3. David Beatty, G, La Salle ($5,900 DK, $6,500 FD)

Just like there was value in the smaller schools on opening day, it might pay again here with La Salle's leading returning scorer. The only other Explorer to average double figures last season -- Ed Croswell -- is now with Providence. St. John's needed a three-pointer with 0:09 left to hold off an embarrassing loss to St. Peter's, and still let the Peacocks tally 75 points on 50.8 percent shooting. This isn't a David vs. Goliath matchup here by any means.

If you need salary relief on DraftKings, take a good long look at Nevada, particularly Robinson, Cambridge and Meeks. Wouldn't touch them on FD for 1.5-3k more expensive across the board, but those are all projected starters, and Nebraska isn't the cream of the crop in the Big Ten.

Late Slate

1.Caleb Daniels, Villanova ($5,400 DK)

Daniels did nothing but score at Tulane and kept that trend up in his Villanova debut. He started and logged 36 minutes, putting up 14 points. Boston College is in the bottom third of the league in terms of pace, however, while ACU is No. 14 in KenPom's tempo metric (out of 357 teams). Look for plenty of additional shots to go up.

On a two-game slate, the Nova/BC over/under is 155, while Clemson/Purdue sits at 131. Therefore it makes sense to pick your studs from the early game, putting the likes of Remy Martin, Collin Gillespie and Jeremiah Robinson-Earl very much in play. Marcus Bagley ($5,900 DK) also looked great in the opener and still seems to be a player you can buy low on.

2. Zach Edey, Purdue ($3,600 DK)

Edey had 19 points and five boards in just 16 minutes in the opener against a Liberty team that was headed for the tournament in 2019-20. He could very well see less run if Williams manages to avoid whistles, but that's easier said than done, and Edey is really the only healthy backup center Purdue has. Jaden Ivey ($4,700 DK) is another option as the bench point guard who definitely passes the eye test, putting up a dozen in the opener.

3 Fades

Early Slate

1. Julian Champagnie, F, St. John's ($7,900 DK, $7,100 FD)

We put the "questionable" tag on him to leave the door open, but Champagnie would get the "doubtful" tag if he had one. He's dealing with an ankle injury, and Isaih Moore ($6,700 DK, $4,000 FD) is probably the best pivot. Moore started and nearly had a double-double in the opener, seemingly taking the job Josh Roberts ($6,100 DK, $5,800 FD) had last year.

2. Moussa Cisse, F, Memphis ($6,400 DK)

You'll hear the words "eye test" a thousand times between now and March, and everything I saw from Cisse suggested he's still pretty raw. His final stat line in the opener ended up fine -- 10 points, seven rebounds and two blocks. However, his price went up $700 and he now has to face an absolute grown man in the 6-11 Charles Bassey. I've got little-to-no interest here.

3. Andrew Nembhard, G, Gonzaga ($8,000 DK, $6,800 FD)

Don't get me wrong -- I'm bullish on Nembhard and the Zags as a possible Final Four contender and believe the Florida transfer will play a big role in getting them there. It's the matchup here I prefer to stay away from. There's no lock that 2019-20 Naismith Defensive Player of the Year Marcus Garrett will be guarding Nembhard at all times, but I'm not going to risk it. You probably need some Gonzaga given the small slate, but I'm not sure the primary ball handler -- who averaged 2.6 turnovers per game last year -- is the way to get it.

Late Slate

1. Amir Simms, F, Clemson ($6,300 DK)

As if his foul out in the opener wasn't maddening enough, he now draws a matchup in Purdue which features Trevion WIlliams at center, and a 7-3 freshman backing him up. Even if you trusted him to stay out of foul trouble, he'll face a stiff test. The Clemson rotation was so spread out in the opener that there really aren't any options I like. I had high expectations for John Newman ($6,200) at one point, but not when he's coming off the bench.

The author(s) of this article may play in daily fantasy contests including – but not limited to – games that they have provided recommendations or advice on in this article. In the course of playing in these games using their personal accounts, it's possible that they will use players in their lineups or other strategies that differ from the recommendations they have provided above. The recommendations in this article do not necessarily reflect the views of RotoWire. Jake Letarski plays in daily fantasy contests using the following accounts: FanDuel: rotojakeski, DraftKings: RotoJakeSki.
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ABOUT THE AUTHOR
Jake Letarski
RotoWire Editor for College Basketball and MMA. Frequent podcaster, plus radio and video guest. Follow Jake on Twitter at @RotoJake.
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