College Basketball Single-Game Daily Fantasy Helper: Monday 12/21/20
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
DJ Jeffries, Memphis ($13,500) - Jeffries is a force on both ends of the court for the Memphis Tigers. The Memphis forward is averaging 13.1 points, 7.0 rebounds, 2.0 assists, and 2.5 blocks/steals in 29.9 minutes. His playing time has spiked lately as Memphis' competition has increased. He's played at least 32 minutes in three straight games. As a result, he's scored 15-plus points, collected 7-plus rebounds, and recorded at least 3 steals in three straight games.
Brandon Rachel, Tulsa ($13,000) - Rachel is the Tulsa Golden Hurricane's best player. The senior leads the team in minutes (29.6 per game), points (15.6 per game), and rebounds (6.4 per game). He also has the ability to rack up the defensive statistics as he's averaging 1.8 blocks/steals per game. The matchup with Memphis is a huge pace bump for the Golden Hurricane. Tulsa is 283rd in KenPom's tempo rankings while Memphis is 15th.
DeAndre Williams, Memphis ($12,000) - Williams made his Memphis debut on Wednesday night after being granted eligibility by the NCAA. Despite coming off the bench, Williams scored 10 points, collected 6 rebounds, and dishing out 2 assists in 17 minutes. Head Coach Penny Hardaway is on record stating that Williams is probably the best overall Tigers' player.
In The Middle
Moussa Cisse, Memphis ($10,500) - Cisse was a five-star recruit in the class of 2020. While he's only averaging 19.6 minutes of action, the freshman can pile up fantasy points in a hurry. He's averaging 8.6 points, 10.6 rebounds, 1.0 assists, and 2.2 blocks over the last five games. I will note that he plays the same position as DeAndre Williams and that could potentially affect his playing time in a negative way. I would avoid playing both players in the same lineup.
Landers Nolley, Memphis ($10,000) - Nolley has a starting assignment and he's taking 26.9% of the Tigers' shot attempts when he's on the floor, per KenPom (leads team). Memphis has a large rotation as they usually go 9 to 10 players deep. The sophomore is one of the few players that receive extended minutes (65.3% of the minutes, per KenPom). He also has the highest offensive rating amongst the Memphis starters (108.8, per KenPom).
Alex Lomax, Memphis ($8,500) - Lomax and Damion Baugh typically split the point minutes for Memphis. I'll side with Lomax since his salary is $500 less than Baugh. He also has a higher assist rate and takes slightly more shots when he's on the floor than Baugh. Lomax is shooting the ball 13.8% of the time when he's playing while Baugh only shoots the ball 11.0% of the time when he's on the floor. Lomax's assist rate is 30.3% while Baugh's is 23.6%, per KenPom.
At The Bottom
Boogie Ellis, Memphis ($8,000) - The Tigers struggled with Tulsa's 2-3 zone defense in a shocking loss last season. While Ellis' playing time is all over the place, he'll likely be needed as he's connecting on 38.9% of his three-point field goal attempts. That is tied with Landers Nolley for the team lead. Ellis is the one really cheap player that has legitimate 30 FanDuel-point upside if he's playing well.
Rey Idowu, Tulsa ($7,000) - Idowu is an efficient scorer and solid rebounder. The only downside is that he's played 20 minutes or less in all five games. He'll likely push for 20 minutes and possibly more against Memphis, since he's one of the few big-bodied players on the Tulsa roster (listed at 6'9"). He'll be needed against a huge Memphis starting lineup which features three guys that are listed at 6'7" and taller. The other nice part about Idowu is that he provides a solid floor at a cheap salary. Idowu has recorded at least 11.8 FanDuel points in all five games.
Curtis Haywood II ($7,000) - The junior has a starting assignment and has seen his playing time increase as of late. Haywood II has played 23-plus minutes in three straight games after playing 19 minutes or less in Tulsa's first two games. Over the last three games, Haywood II is averaging 16.76 FanDuel points.
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.
