This article is part of our DFS College Basketball series.
DraftKings is back with another small sample of games to pick from Thursday with just eight. As usual, things tip off at 7:00 p.m. EST in Big Ten country before a four-game night slate that starts at 10:00 p.m. EST on the West Coast.
While this is a rather quaint slate, half of the games have final scores projected above 140 points, and six contests have an over/under set at 137 or higher. Still, with very few options to pick from, we'll look to create a lineup with a solid base of higher-priced reliable scorers combined with some high-upside picks on the lower salary rungs.
Top Tier
Khalil Shabazz, G, San Francisco ($8,300)
Shabazz really feels underpriced given that he just accrued his best fantasy performance of the year with 53.5 DKP against Santa Clara on Saturday. He's also leading his team in points (17.2) and rebounds (5.5) per game over the last five outings. The 6-foot senior isn't the most efficient shooter with a 40.6 field-goal percentage this season, but he is providing the added benefits of 3.0 assists and 2.1 steals per game this season. His massive role should only be exacerbated while playing the heavyweights of the West Coast Conference, who rank 43rd in adjusted tempo (70.0) and seventh in offensive tempo (120.4), per KenPom. This panned out during these two teams' previous matchup when Shabazz logged 17 points and nine boards in a 77-75 loss. So, while the Bulldogs are favored by 13.5 points this time around, there's more than enough reason to buy Shabazz as the best pick in a game with a 155-point total.
Brice Sensabaugh, F, Ohio State ($8,300)
Sensabaugh has been an efficient, high-volume shooter while starting for Ohio State this season, converting 52 percent of his 14.0 field-goal attempts. This doesn't include the Buckeyes' most recent game when he surprisingly found himself coming off the bench in the 77-69 loss to Michigan. It's not clear why Sensabaugh fell out of the starting rotation, but his usage didn't seem to change given that he still posted 14 points and nine rebounds across 26 minutes. The freshman wing has also averaged 6.7 rebounds while hitting 46.5 percent of his 4.7 three-point tries over the last 15 games. That shapes up well against a Northwestern squad that is perfectly middle of the road in rebounding percentage (50.1) and has allowed a 35.2 three-point percentage to its opponents this season. This figures to be a slow-tempo, Big Ten-style game, but the projected 137.5-point total and 4.5-point spread make it attractive enough to invest the funds in Sensabaugh.
Middle Tier
N'Faly Dante, F, Oregon ($7,300)
Dante rounds out the top trio that we'll look to provide the base for our lineup. The 6-foot-11 senior has pounded the paint with 13.3 points and 8.3 rebounds over his last 10 appearances. His average number of field-goal tries (8.1) has been limited due to playing just 25.3 minutes per contest over that span. That hasn't affected his fantasy value much though, as Dante posted fewer than 23.5 DKP just once and fewer than 27.3 DKP just four times. Dante did miss one game with a knee injury before playing just 21 minutes off the bench in his first game back Jan. 28. That didn't seem to limit him when he posted 18 points and five boards across 27 minutes versus Arizona State on Saturday. The Trojans also have a slightly below average rebounding percentage at 49.7 this season, and USC is also dealing with injuries down low. That could be an important difference-maker in a game that's spread is just 4.5 points while the total is 142.5 points.
Payton Sandfort, F, Iowa ($6,000)
Sandfort has been one of the most valuable bench players in the Big Ten this season. He's played at least 19 minutes in each of the last nine games, including three outings where he posted at least 20 points and four rebounds. This role also hasn't changed since Patrick McCaffery returned to the lineup over the last three games, as Sandfort has averaged 12.0 points and 6.0 assists while also hitting 56.3 percent of his 5.3 three-point attempts over this span. Purdue has allowed a stellar 30.6 three-point percentage to opponents this season, but Sandfort's importance as both a shooter and rebounder makes him a very solid pick in this game that projects to finish with around 150 combined points.
Bargain Tier
David Singleton, G, UCLA ($5,900)
Singleton stepped up into a starting role for eight games when Amari Bailey was out with a foot injury. Singleton has returned to his spot off the bench during the past two games, but he still played 33 minutes and took eight field-goal attempts in his first outing removed from the starting lineup. He did play 23 minutes in the Bruins' most recent game, though this was in a 76-52 blowout against Washington State. Singleton has also logged more minutes than Bailey since the starting guard since he returned three games ago. Oregon State also ranks 303rd in rebounding percentage this season (47.3), per TeamRankings. That could help further increase Singleton's value if he keeps playing more minutes than Bailey Thursday night.
Rasir Bolton, G, Gonzaga ($5,100)
Bolton served me extremely well in last week's Thursday lineup, returning with 29.3 DKP on a salary of just $6,000 against Santa Clara. That was one of his stronger showings this year, as he has been prone to some low-teen and single-digit fantasy outings despite starting every game for Gonzaga this season. Still, Bolton's bottom-of-the-barrel salary is far too good to pass up for a player who has averaged 10.5 points and 27.0 minutes per game this season. He also put a season-high 21 points on 5-of-7 three-point shooting and 8-of-12 overall against the Dons back in early January. In this limited slate, that's more than enough for a low-risk, high-reward flier.
