College Basketball Daily Fantasy Helper: Monday 2/22/21

College basketball season is in the midst of conference play, and we have an eight-game slate today.

March Madness is a little more than 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 NBA contests.

Now that you're in the know, we can attack today's slate, which locks at 7:00 p.m. EST.

Which players should you be targeting, and why?

Relevant injury situation to monitor:

All stats come from KenPom unless otherwise noted.

Guards

Ayo Dosunmu, Illinois ($9,000) - The Illinois Fighting Illini guard has been nearly unstoppable as B1G Ten conference play nears the conclusion. He's recorded two triple-doubles over the last four games. He's averaging an impressive 41.2 FanDuel points in that time span. Up next is a good spot as the Illini travel to Michigan State. The Spartans are not a team to fear this season as they check in with the nation's 50th ranked defense. Sharife Cooper ($8,700) is also an excellent option; he'll likely be less popular than Dosunmu.

James Bouknight, Connecticut ($7,100) - All systems appear to be a go with the Connecticut Huskies star guard. He enters Tuesday night with two games under his belt after a lengthy injury absence. Bouknight re-entered the starting lineup in the Huskies last outing and logged 36 minutes (recorded 33.5 FanDuel points). The sophomore has a monster 31.7% usage rate and 32.1% shot rate (percentage of the team's shots by the player when the player is on the floor). The matchup with Georgetown is a phenomenal spot. The Hoyas loves to push the tempo and aren't particularly concerned with playing defense. They are ranked 86th in defense nationally while they check in at 94th in tempo (Connecticut is 319th in tempo).

Justin Moore, Villanova ($6,300) -

Andrew Jones, Texas ($6,000) -

Tyree Appleby, Florida ($5,000) -

Hunter Cattoor, Virginia Tech ($4,400) - The Hokies will be a team to pay attention to pre-lock. They are coming off an extended Covid-19 absence. It's unclear which players are available for Tuesday night. It's also unclear if Tyrece Radford ($3,000) will be re-instated from suspension. If he's back, he's a near lock at his current salary. Assuming Radford is out, Cattoor makes for an excellent source of salary relief. Cattoor is averaging .69 FanDuel points per minute. At that production level, he should pay off his salary in 25.5 minutes of action (assuming value is 4x of player's salary). Cattoor is averaging 28.0 minutes per game over the last six games despite coming off the bench. Joshua Langford ($4,400) is a fine pivot.

Other player to consider for salary relief ($5,000 or less):

Forwards

Jeremiah Robinson-Earl, Villanova ($7,900) -

Keve Aluma, Virginia Tech ($7,000) - Aluma has simply been incredible with Tyrece Radford suspended. In four games sans Radford, Aluma is averaging 22.3 points, 9.5 rebounds, 3.5 assists, and 2.2 blocks/steals in 35.5 minutes (one game went to overtime). Even if Radford returns, look for the Hokies to run their offense through Aluma. He's one of the best plays on the slate when considering salary. Aaron Henry ($7,100) and David McCormack ($6,900) are both good tournament options priced in Aluma's salary range. They'll likely be far less popular than Aluma.

Jermaine Samuels, Villanova ($6,100) -

Jalen Wilson, Kansas ($5,600) - Despite the rather unappealing matchup with Texas Longhorns (Texas is 33rd in defense nationally), Wilson is under-salaried. From a rates perspective, it's hard to find anyone in his salary range that compares. The freshman has 23.4% usage rate, 8.8% offensive rebounding rate, 21.9% defensive rebounding rate, and a 14.8% assist rate. He also rarely leaves the court as he's averaging 34.5 minutes per game over the last six games.

Other players to consider for salary relief ($5,000 or less):

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.