March Madness: The Best DraftKings Value Plays for Thursday's Games

Yesterday and earlier this morning, I showed how to use Vegas to project team fantasy points and thus get Vegas fantasy point player projections as a result.

I did just that and came away with some definite value plays for tomorrow's games on DraftKings.

Here they are.

The Studs (>$7,100)

D'Angelo Russell, G -- Ohio State ($9,800)

Among the high-priced players, Russell will cost a pretty penny, but certainly has as much upside as any player on Thursday. He's topped 32 fantasy points in four of his last five games and can fill it up from any part of the box score. Despite being the lower seed, Ohio State is actually favored in this game. Russell scores the highest percentage of his team's fantasy points per game (24.2%) than any other player playing on Thursday, so Russell should be in line for a big game.

Wesley Saunders, G -- Harvard ($8,100)

That last sentence wasn't completely true -- Russell is actually tied in terms of scoring the highest percentage of his team's fantasy points. The guy he's tied with? Harvard's Wesley Saunders. He gets a tough matchup on Thursday in North Carolina, but he should be able to get his. He plays so many minutes (37 against Yale in their playoff game) that even if Harvard struggles, Saunders can still hit value.

Trevor Lacey, G -- North Carolina State ($7,600)

Lacey is very much a hit-or-miss GPP play on Thursday. He has games like the last one against Duke where he only scored 9.5 fantasy points in 35 minutes. However, the prior two games he topped 30 fantasy points. DraftKings gives an extra 0.5 points for 3-pointers and Lacey is a gunner. I don't know if he'll get hot, but if he does, he can help win you a tournament.

The Mids ($5,000 to $7,000)

Lee Skinner, F -- Wofford ($5,800)

Skinner goes up against the fastest team in the tournament in the Arkansas Razorbacks. He's a great head-to-head play and has been very consistent over his last seven games -- 23.75, 23.0, 21.5, 27.25, 28.5, 27.75, and 28.0 fantasy points in those games. He does face a tougher task than normal in taking on Bobby Portis and Arkansas, but he will get about 32 to 35 minutes and will have many opportunities to hit value.

Isaac Hamilton, G -- UCLA ($5,700)

Talk about high-risk, high-reward GPP plays. Hamilton is all over the place in terms of production game-to-game. In UCLA's last game, he played 15 minutes (because of foul trouble) and scored 7.25 fantasy points. The game before that, he played 34 minutes and racked up 45.5 fantasy points. Before that a game of 24.5 and one of 16.0 fantasy points. Then we have another 40-pointer. I can't at all predict anything about Hamilton or this UCLA team. Throw him in at least one tournament lineup just in case.

Josh Hart, G -- Villanova ($5,200)

Hart has hit at least 20 fantasy points in his last four games, three of which have come against tournament teams. He's not a 30-minute-per-night guy and comes off the bench, but that may work to your advantage as they take on 16 seed Lafayette. He'll produce when given time, and if you think that Villanova will rest their starters in the second half due to a blowout, Hart could exceed value.

The Low-Priced Values ($3,900 to $4,900)

Myles Turner, F -- Texas ($4,800)

Turner is a top-10 projected pick in the upcoming NBA Draft even though Texas head coach Rick Barnes won't give him consistently heavy minutes. Those minutes have been down recently -- 10, 18, and 15 in the last three games -- but he could potentially get more playing time against Butler, who will be at a major size disadvantage against the Longhorns. The talent is there and if he eclipses 20 minutes, he'll definitely exceed value.

Zach Stahl, G -- Northeastern ($4,700)
T.J. Williams, G -- Northeastern ($4,600)

I know. It's a big risky to bet on either guard from Northeastern, a 14 seed, playing against the ACC tournament champion Notre Dame Fighting Irish. However, this game will be an offense-dominated one, as Notre Dame isn't known for it's defensive prowess -- they rank 148th nationally by our numbers. At their prices, they will probably hit value, especially if Notre Dame rests starters at the end.