College Basketball Single-Game Daily Fantasy Helper: Friday 3/5/21 (Georgia Tech at Wake Forest)
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, but not all lineup slots are the same. One of your players will be your MVP, and his FanDuel points are multiplied by two. You also select a STAR player, whose production is multiplied by 1.5, and a PRO, whose points are multiplied by 1.2. Two utility 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.
All stats come from KenPom unless otherwise noted.
Player Breakdowns
At The Top
Moses Wright, Georgia Tech ($13,000) - Wright possesses the highest ceiling amongst Friday night's participants due to his ability to dominate both ends of the court. The Georgia Tech Yellow Jackets' forward is averaging 18.0 points (leads team), 8.3 rebounds (leads team), 2.3 assists, 1.5 steals (tied for second on the team), and 1.7 blocks (leads team) in 35.9 minutes. He's the only player on this single-game slate averaging more than 1.0 FanDuel points per minute (1.02). Consequently, I think he'll be the most popular MVP selection.
Jose Alvarado, Georgia Tech ($12,500) - The Yellow Jackets' point guard is a threat on both ends of the court, too. While none of the Yellow Jackets' starters has a dominant usage rate, Alvarado leads the way with a 119.1 offensive rating. Additionally, he's a very efficient scorer as he is posting a 59.8% effective field goal percentage. The senior has an eye-popping 21.4% assist rate and 4.5% steal rate (18th nationally).
Michael Devoe, Georgia Tech ($10,500) - From a rates perspective, Devoe and Alvarado are pretty similar (Alvarado has him beat in steals/blocks). Devoe's 23.9% usage rate and 23.8% shot rate (percentage of the team's shots by the player when the player is on the floor) trails only Wright amongst the Yellow Jackets. Like Alvarado, he is efficient with the ball as he is posting a 52.5% effective field goal percentage. To top it all off, Devoe has a 13.2% defensive rebounding rate and an 18.0% assist rate. Devoe will likely trail both Wright and Alvarado in MVP popularity.
In The Middle
Jordan Usher, Georgia Tech ($10,000) - Georgia Tech plays a six-to-seven man rotation. Usher has a starting role and has the ability to contribute in every major statistical category. The senior is taking 21.3% of the team's shots when he's on the floor. Additionally, his 15.4% defensive rebounding rate and 18.7% assist rate rank second among Georgia Tech regulars. If that's not enough, Usher is a stalwart on defense as he owns a 2.9% block rate and 3.0% steal rate.
Ian DuBose, Wake Forest ($9,500) - The Georgia Tech rotation is fairly predictable since the rotation is short. However, the same can't be said for Wake Forest. The Demon Deacons employ a deeper rotation that consists of 9 to 10 players. DuBose would normally be a MVP candidate, but his playing time has been cut dramatically over the last four games. He's logged 21 or fewer minutes in four straight games (played 24-plus minutes in the four games prior). If his playing time increases at all, he makes for a fantastic play. The senior has a 24.9% usage rate (leads team), 22.1% defensive rebounding rate, 23.2% assist rate, and a 3.0% steal rate.
Jonah Antonio, Wake Forest ($8,000) - On the flip side, Antonio has seen a major increase in playing time over the last two games. He has logged 28 and 29 minutes in each of the last two games, which is up significantly from his seasonal average of 20.2 minutes per game. Additionally, the senior is leading the Demon Deacons with a 111.2 offensive rating.
At The Bottom
Khalid Moore, Georgia Tech ($8,000) - Moore has been inserted into the lineup over Bubba Parham. With that promotion, Moore has seen a monster increase in playing time. Over the last three games, Moore is averaging 34.0 minutes per game (in regulation), which is up a large amount from his seasonal average of 23.7 minutes per game. Additionally, he's averaging 20.4 FanDuel points in that split. He makes for a great source of salary relief on this single-game slate.
Ody Oguama, Wake Forest ($7,000) - When deciding between bottom-tier players, I tend to favor players who can rack up fantasy points in a hurry like Oguama can. Oguama won't play a ton of minutes (averaging 22.2 minutes per game). But he's fairly efficient in limited playing time. Oguama is averaging 0.71 FanDuel points per minute, which ranks second on the Demon Deacons (DuBose leads the team at 0.89).
Isaiah Mucius, Wake Forest ($7,000) - I have a feeling Mucius will be popular at his current salary. The junior has a starting assignment, and his playing time has risen as of late. He's seen 30-plus minutes over the last two games, which is up from his season-long average of 25.3 minutes per game. Moreover, Mucius is third on the Demon Deacons with a 21.6% usage rate and a 23.8% shot rate. He's also one of the team's top rebounders as he checks in with a 7.2% offensive rebounding rate (second on the team) and a 16.2% defensive rebounding rate (third on the team among regular rotation players).
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.
