College Basketball Daily Fantasy Helper: Wednesday 2/6/19

College basketball season is in full tilt.

March Madness is still roughly a month away, but you can get in all the college hoops hype by playing daily contests at FanDuel today. If you've played NBA DFS before, it's quite simple: pick a total of eight players -- four guards, three forwards and one utility spot you can use for either position. Stay within the $50,000 salary cap and field the team you think will score the most fantasy points.

Where scoring differs from NBA is in the blocks and steals categories, with each worth two FanDuel points apiece rather than the three you get in daily NBA contests.

Now that you're in the know, we can attack today's main slate, which locks at 7:00 p.m. EST and consists of 12 games. #14 Villanova hosts Creighton in what projects to be one of the most fantasy-friendly matchups of the night, sporting a 152 over/under and a nine-point spread.

Which players should you be targeting and why?

Guards

Alpha Diallo, Providence ($8,400): Outside of 'Nova/Creighton, there's another Big East game to major exposure to, and that's in Providence at Georgetown. At home, the Friars are four-point favorites, and when combined with a 148.5 over/under they have a nice 76.25 implied total. That's 4.15 above their season average, as they're set to benefit from a head-to-head with a Hoya defense ranked 124th, according to KenPom.com. Diallo enters the night with a 25.5% usage rate, which ranks first among Friars with 300-plus minutes played. He has averaged 33.9 FanDuel points, a mark that ranks first among guards and third overall on this slate despite sitting outside the top five by price. His combination of consistency -- 15 30-plus FanDuel point games -- and upside -- two 50-plus games -- is as good as it gets for cash games.

Cody Martin, Nevada ($7,900): Not so surprisingly, the #6 Nevada Wolf Pack own the evening's top total (82.75) as 13.5-point favorites at Colorado State. They rank 21st in offensive efficiency and 32nd with 81.4 points per game, thanks to three straight conference games with at least 87 points. Sitting 281st in defensive efficiency, the Rams are the worst defensive squad of the 24 we have to choose from, so Cody Martin's fantasy potential is that much higher given the matchup. The 6'7" senior has been particularly hot of late, putting up at least 27.7 FanDuel points in three straight while totaling 50 points (on 20-of-28 shooting) and 19 assists. Martin had 19 points, 5 assists and 31.9 FanDuel points in the two teams' matchup in Reno a couple weeks back, and all he requires is 31.6 for four-times value (4.0 points per $1,000) tonight.

Lamar Peters, Mississippi State ($6,500): The Big East and SEC are king tonight, and the latter is headed by #21 LSU at Mississippi State in a game with the highest over/under of the night at 155.5 points. This is one to go at hard, especially with some value plays on the Bulldogs' end of it. Peters was once priced much higher, and in this middle tier his upside is basically unmatched. Using 24.4% of his team's offensive possessions, the junior has averaged 23.4 FanDuel points with six games over 30 and eight at least meeting tonight's implied output of 26.0. He's also shot a much higher percentage (44.9%) on his home floor, where he's averaged 14.1 points and 24.3 FanDuel points in 11 games.

Davion Mintz, Creighton ($5,700): For the Bluejays, they will -- in all likelihood -- be shorthanded without Marcus Zegarowski and Damien Jefferson in the backcourt, leaving Mintz as the primary beneficiary. Villanova isn't the best matchup, ranking 87th in defensive efficiency but an ultra-slow 339th in pace. Nonetheless, Creighton has a 71.5 total due in part to their own high offensively-minded pace of play. Mintz should see around 35 minutes, and when he's been on he's seen 20% of the team's possessions. Before posting back-to-back duds, the junior had tallied three straight with 25.8 or more FanDuel points -- two of those on the road.

Tevin Mack, Alabama ($4,600): If you have room, you can pay up for John Petty ($5,600) or Kira Lewis, Jr. ($5,900) as your Alabama exposure. But for my money, Mack is a great punt play in tournaments. The Tide's 79.25 total is more than four above their season-long average, which bodes well for scoring-dependent guys like Mack. The junior averages 8.4 points per game on a 23.9% usage and 7.5 field goal attempts per game, despite averaging under 20 minutes a night. He is just one game removed from back-to-back games with 19.9 FanDuel points or more, which would be good enough for a value of 4.3 points per $1,000 at his bottom-of-the-barrel cost.

Forwards

Jessie Govan, Georgetown ($8,200): On the other side of that high-scoring game between the Friars and Hoyas, Georgetown forward Jessie Govan is in a great spot as well. While Nevada's Jordan Caroline ($8,700) is a great play on the very top tier, the 6'10" senior comes at a discount and averages 0.8 more FanDuel points per game. He's coming off a foul-riddled 13-minute, 6.4-point performance last game at Villanova, but this Providence team is allowing 71.4 points per game in conference play and is expected to give up a healthy 72.25 to tonight's opponent. Back in a January 12 meeting, Govan turned in a monster double-double -- 33 points and 14 rebounds -- with four blocks and a total of 59.3 FanDuel points. That type of tournament-winning upside makes him a better play than the alternatives -- Nicolas Claxon, Elijah Thomas and Bruno Fernando -- in his price range.

Naz Reid, LSU ($6,700): There's no shortage of plays for this one, but Reid could pay off big for those looking to the mid range at forward. The freshman has had a couple of lulls this year, but he looks to be back at it in time for an up-and-down matchup. Reid has scored in double figures in four out of his last five and five out of his last seven, and he has at least six boards in each of those games. He's managed three games over tonight's salary-implied output in that span, maxing out at 36.4 at Arkansas and going for 31.0 against the Razorbacks at home on Saturday. If he stays out of trouble, he should eat in a close game against an okay opponent.

Reggie Perry, Mississippi State ($5,200): Going with one Bulldog in both the backcourt and frontcourt seems to be the way to go this evening. After all, Perry replaced Aric Holman in the starting lineup last game, and the freshman big went for 21 points, 11 rebounds and 34.7 FanDuel points. He produced 29.4 the game before, and he has two double-doubles in his five starts on the season. The Tigers give up 72.5 points per game -- 76.5 in SEC play -- and allow 10.8 offensive boards to their opponents, on average. At home, look for Perry to take advantage so long as he's in the starting lineup once again.

Jermaine Samuels, Villanova ($4,800): The entire forward foursome is in play for Villanova, but Samuels is the cheapest, thereby presenting some nice value given this game script. Samuels is fresh off a 16-rebound game in which he went for 29.2 FanDuel points, giving him three games with 22.1 or more in the last six. When he's gotten the minutes he's shown to be a stat-sheet stuffer, something that's particularly valuable against Creighton, a team allowing 33.0 rebounds, 6.5 steals and 3.1 blocks to opposing teams.

Brett Oswalt is not a FanDuel employee. In addition to providing DFS gameplay advice, Brett Oswalt also participates in DFS contests on FanDuel using his personal account, username BRO14THEKID. While the strategies and player selections recommended in his articles are his personal views, he may deploy different strategies and player selections when entering contests with his personal account. The views expressed in his articles are the author's alone and do not necessarily reflect the views of FanDuel.