College Basketball Single-Game Daily Fantasy Helper: Thursday 12/10/20
In a traditional FanDuel college basketball lineup, you have a $60,000 salary cap to roster eight players. In the single-game setup, the salary cap is the same, but the lineup requirements are different.
You select five players of any position. One of your players will be your MVP, whose FanDuel points are multiplied by two. You also select a STAR player (whose production is multiplied by 1.5) and a PRO (multiplied by 1.2). Two UTIL players round out the roster, and they don't receive a multiplier to their production.
This makes the five players you select important in more than one way, as you need to focus on slotting in the best plays in the multiplier slots rather than just nailing the best overall plays of the game.
Player Breakdowns
At The Top
Remy Martin, Arizona State ($13,500) - The Arizona State Sun Devils point guard is off to a phenomenal start this season. Martin is posting game averages of 17.3 points (second on the team), 3.0 rebounds, 4.0 assists (leads team), 1.3 steals (second on the team) in 32.8 minutes (leads the team). Needless to say, the senior makes his imprint felt in every major statistical area. There will be more shots to go around with Marcus Bagley and his 22.1% usage rate sidelined.
Alonzo Verge Jr., Arizona State ($12,500) - Verge Jr. should return to the Sun Devils starting lineup after missing two games due to COVID contract tracing. That's good news for Arizona State, as Verge Jr. poured in 22 points, grabbed 7 rebounds, assisted on 3 baskets, recorded a steal, and blocked in shot in 32 minutes against the No. 3 ranked Villanova Wildcats in his last outing. Additionally, Verge Jr. owns an impressive 28.5% usage rate, per KenPom.
Matt Mitchell, San Diego State ($11,500) - Mitchell owns the San Diego State Aztecs' best usage rate (26.8%), per KenPom. He's also a force on the defensive end; he leads the Aztecs with 1.5 steals per game to go with 0.5 blocks per game. The matchup with the Sun Devils is a major pace-up spot for San Diego State. Arizona State is 16th in KenPom's tempo rankings while San Diego State is 327th.
In The Middle
Aguek Arop, San Diego State ($10,00) - San Diego State lost three starters from a season ago, and they needed a couple of players to step their games up this season. Arop is one of those players as he's the fifth-leading scorer (7.3 points per game), second-leading rebounder (5.0 rebounds per game), and tied for second in assists (2.0 assists per game).
Nathan Mensah, San Diego State ($9,500) - Mensah gets the most out of his minutes due to his ability to contribute on both ends of the court. The junior forward averages 7.0 points, 6.3 rebounds, 0.5 assists, and 1.6 blocks/steals in 19.3 minutes. As noted above this a major pace-up spot for San Diego State which will help Mensah see extra opportunities in his limited playing time.
Jordan Schakel, San Diego State ($9,000) - Schakel leads the Aztecs in minutes played (27.3 minutes per game) and scoring (12.8 points per game). The good news is that he's capable scoring even more points if he can start knocking down some shots. He's only connecting on 42.9% of his field goal attempts, which is down from 45.3% from last season.
At The Bottom
Trey Pulliam, San Diego State ($8,000) - Pulliam is the starting point guard for San Diego State. In a major pace-up game, that's intriguing and that's before we factor in Pulliam's salary. While nothing stands out in his game, Pulliam consistently contributes on both ends of the court. The senior is averaging 6.3 points, 2.5 rebounds, 3.5 assists, and 1.3 steals in 24.8 minutes.
Jalen Graham, Arizona State ($7,500) - Despite averaging just 19.0 minutes, the sophomore center can rack up fantasy points in a hurry due to his elite shot blocking skills (recorded 2-plus blocks in three straight games). He'll have less competition for minutes as the Sun Devils will be without starting forward Marcus Bagley on Thursday night (Bagley averages 27.5 minutes). He's one of the few cheap guys ($8,000 or below) who will push for at least 20 minutes of playing time.
Taeshon Cherry, Arizona State ($6,500) - Cherry's seasonal statistics aren't impressive, as he's averaging 5.3 points, 2.0 rebounds, 0.5 assists, and 0.5 steals in 15.8 minutes per game. However, Cherry figures to slide into the starting lineup with impact freshman forward Marcus Bagley unavailable. Most importantly, his low salary allows us to spend up on the players that can stuff the stat sheet.
Matthew Hiatt is not a FanDuel employee. In addition to providing DFS gameplay advice, Matthew Hiatt also participates in DFS contests on FanDuel using his personal account, username easternmh. While the strategies and player selections recommended in his articles are his/her 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.
