This article is part of our DFS College Basketball series.
We're approaching the finish line of the season, which represents both exciting and sad times. Saturday will cover three consecutive two-game slates over the next week before we're left with a showdown to close out the campaign.
DraftKings still has a solid $50,000 prize pool offering with $10,000 available to the winner and four additional four-digit prizes for high placing. It's going to be incredibly difficult to differentiate here, but we'll try to identify angles. This type of slate simply allows you to enter multiple entries and stack each team and hope for the best. We'll see plenty of folks doing that, and frankly I don't know how to combat it other than playing single-entry tournaments that don't come with the golden goose. But let's try to identify some solid solo plays, and maybe see where we can take swings. Now more than at any point during the season, this column is not meant for you to select the six names listed and build around them. You've got to take a stand on one or two teams, and fill out from there.
One thing we know for Saturday is that scoring won't be light considering both matchups project totals of at least 155.0 points, with Illinois' expected 73.25 coming in as the lowest number. Ironically, the Illini have two of the slate's five highest salaried players - including the most expensive.
Top Targets
Tristen Newton, G, Connecticut ($8,400)
You can take a lower salary on Donovan Clingan if you prefer a forward and his upside is always immense, but Newton offers similar potential with a far safer floor. He just does it all, averaging 16.7 points, 4.3 rebounds, 7.3 assists and 1.0 steals during the tournament. The rebounds are down from Newton's season norms, but we can potentially point to UConn blowing everyone out as a cause. We need 33.6 fantasy points for a 4x return, and that's something he's provided in seven of his last 12 while only failing to reach 3x twice with a 4.8x ceiling on six occasions.
Aaron Estrada, G, Alabama ($7,000)
The choice for me in builds is whether you go Newton/Estrada, or Mark Sears/Cam Spencer at the top end, and you can clearly see where I land. I prefer Estrada as an all-around contributor to Sears as a pure scorer, though the exact opposite was true in their November matchup with Sears producing rare statistical diversity. This pairing is $300 higher and arguably offers the lower ceiling, yet I'm backing the floor. Estrada hasn't produced a game of less than 27.0 fantasy points since Feb. 7th. He's averaged 14.8 points, 6.3 rebounds, 6.2 assists and 2.1 steals over that stretch, giving us plenty of different paths to fantasy scoring.
Middle Tier
Ian Schieffelin, F, Clemson ($6,700)
DraftKings is begging you to stack the Tigers on Saturday. They have an implied total of 80.75 points and don't have a player valued north of $6,900. I want shares of PJ Hall despite his foul issues in this paced-up spot while Chase Hunter is playing at an elite level but is undervalued. So perhaps we can get Schieffelin under-the-radar. He's averaging 13.7 points, 8.3 rebounds and 2.0 assists from three tournament matchups while producing 30.1 fantasy points that should see a slight boost thanks to tempo. Schieffelin went for just above that number (31.5) during their November meeting.
Coleman Hawkins, F, Illinois ($6,500)
This is all about being different. Similar to Clemson's entire lineup, I think DraftKings is pushing you to stack secondary Connecticut players with Stephon Castle and Alex Karaban being under $6,000. So let's pay up some and use Hawkins in the frontcourt. It's not an ideal matchup, yet we only require 26 fantasy points for a 4x return. He's provided that so far this tournament, and you have to go back to Feb. 21 to find him under 20 fantasy points. Hawkins is a willing 3-point shooter and can help space out Connecticut's big men or provide a mismatch on the interior when Clingan sits.
Bargain Options
Hassan Diarra, G, Connecticut ($4,300)
This gives us a cheap in to the potent Husky offense that can score 80 points or more on Saturday. Diarra is averaging 6.5 points, 3.0 rebounds and 2.6 assists across his last 10 games while logging 19.4 minutes. He's reached double-digit fantasy points every time, suggesting a very safe 2.5x return.
Chauncey Wiggins, F, Clemson ($3,200)
The salary makes this a complete punt play to open up spending elsewhere. But Wiggins and RJ Godfrey play roughly the same amount of minutes, and the former comes in $1,600 less. He's averaging 9.0 fantasy points during the tournament, which isn't great but pretty close to 3x return. If pace manifests, Wiggins can certainly get there, at worst. He received 17 minutes in their matchup earlier in the year while returning 8.0 fantasy points. If we can get 2.5x out of this value and fit in a third stud, it's worth it. There's just no risk at this number.
