RADIO
Get ready for an amped-up week of college basketball! We have the other two play-in games for the NCAA Tournament and the last seven first-round NIT games to make up our slate tonight. The NCAA game was played in Dayton. The NIT games are at the highest seed's home court. We have some major teams on the road tonight in NIT action. I love to see that! Grambling and Montana State get us going from Dayton.
The first set of NIT games takes St. Joseph's from Philly to Newark to face Seton Hall. SMU is in Terre Haute to take on Larry Bird U. Loyola-Chicago heads downstream to take on Bradley. UNLV is in Jersey to face Princeton. App State heads over to Wake for a great Tobacco Road matchup. Colorado and Boise State are the late game in the NCAA Tournament. The NIT only has two night games with San Francisco in Cincinnati and VCU in Philadelphia to face Villanova.
This article will provide you with my daily fantasy college basketball lineup picks on DraftKings on 3/20/24, starting at 6:40 p.m. EDT. I’ll provide multiple player suggestions at guard and forward, aiming to highlight one option at the salary scale's high, middle, and lower levels. Good luck, RotoBallers.
Today's DraftKings Guards - CBB DFS Lineup Picks
Ryan Conwell, Indiana State ($8.3K)
Conwell doesn't even get most of the attention on his own team, but he might be the most consistent producer. I'm still more than disappointed that the Sycamores weren't in the tournament over a boring and NET-poor Virginia team. It came down to money, which is something we should never forgive the committee for. In placating the ACC (which honestly didn't deserve it), they robbed us of watching one of the best mid-major teams of the last 10 years, which is saying a lot.
Indiana State's 29th Net rating becomes the highest to ever not to make the NCAA Tournament #SelectionSunday #MarchMadness pic.twitter.com/zY3lRJjqUA
— Marty Ledbetter (@MartySports10) March 17, 2024
What those idiots in suits (they may not be the same idiots, but idiots in suits also massacred the Pac-12) are too shortsighted to see is that everyone loves a great underdog story. If the Sycamores had won their first-round NCAA Tournament game, the TV ratings would be through the roof.
Only a small region cares about Virginia. The casual viewer who wants to watch basketball isn't going to keep it on a Virginia game because they might not make a basket for 10 minutes. If you're looking for some hoops and you land on Indiana State, people are going to stick around. Everyone knows about Larry Bird. Many don't know about the best nickname in college basketball, but more on that later.
NCAA Committee: We had to take into consideration that this team battled injuries and give them a spot in the tournament.
Indiana State: We were missing starters in three of our six losses because of injuries. We had a higher NET than them.
NCAA Committee: ?you!— Duff Tyler (@DuffTyler) March 17, 2024
Back to the task at hand: creating a winning DFS lineup! Conwell is a good place to start. He hasn't had less than 27 DraftKings points in eight straight games and nearly hit 50 a couple of times. Conwell's ceiling is high, especially against a SMU team that will get out there and run with them.
Robert Ford III, Montana State ($7.6K)
It's rather impressive that the Bobcats return to the tournament after losing their coach, Great Osobor, and Darius Brown II to Utah State. Ford picked up a lot of the slack. leading Montana State with 16.2 points per game. He's much more than a scorer. Ford has averaged 36.8 DraftKings points per game this year but has been over that mark in four straight games and over 30 in six straight. This is a good matchup against Grambling. We should see another strong game out of Ford.
Xaivian Lee, Princeton ($5.2K)
Lee only played nine minutes in Princeton's three 2023 NCAA Tournament games. He has been outstanding this year, though. Lee joined the starting lineup on December 30 against Delaware. He hasn't been under 20 DraftKings points in any game in which he played more than 15 minutes. He struggled against Brown in the Ivy League tournament but still mustered a 20-spot. His floor is very high for a value play.
Justin Webster, UNLV ($4K)
I would love to see consistent minutes out of Webster, but the Rebels only play him when he's making shots. Unfortunately, we don't have any predictors of that before tipoff. Webster has scored in double figures a few times this year, including 14 in the heartbreaking loss to San Diego State in the Mountain West Tournament.
Also consider: KJ Simpson, Colorado ($8.8K); Tra'Michael Moton, Grambling ($7.7K); Marcus Williams, San Francisco ($7.4K); Dan Skillings Jr., Cincinnati ($7.1K); Justin Moore, Villanova ($6.4K); Cameron Brown, St. Joseph's ($6K); Mark Armstrong, Villanova ($5.6K); Jizzle James, Cincinnati ($5.3K); Tyler Patterson, Montana State ($4.6K); Brendan Hausen, Villanova ($4.3K)
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Today's DraftKings Forwards - CBB DFS Lineup Picks
Tyson Degenhart, Boise State ($8.2K)
This won't be an easy matchup for Degenhart. Still, he has put up big numbers against tournament teams New Mexico, San Diego State, Nevada, Utah State, Colorado State, and New Mexico again during his 11-game reign of terror to end the season. Degenhart averaged 20.7 points, 7.7 rebounds, 1.4 assists, 0.2 blocks, and 0.8 steals over that span. We should be able to trust Degenhart to have another solid game against Colorado.
Robbie Avila, Indiana State ($8.1K)
There is enough value on this slate to chase after more than one high-priced forward. Avila is worth using just for his nickname alone.
14 first half points for Virginia.
14!!!!!
You know who would have scored 14 points by himself?
"Cream Abdul-Jabbar"
"Larry Nerd"
"Steph Blurry"I hope Robbie Avila and all of Terre Haute Indiana didn't watch that first half in Dayton. pic.twitter.com/H7XeziYT21
— Nick Yeoman (@NYeoman) March 20, 2024
Avila spent the season passing well for his size and scoring at will for the Sycamores. He has only been under 25 DraftKings points once since the Michigan State game on December 30. This is a better-than-advertised matchup with SMU. Indiana State should leave no doubt that they should have been one of the teams playing last night.
Donovan Gregory, Appalachian State ($6.6K)
This guy scored 27 DraftKings points against Auburn this year, so he can have success against anyone. He ended the season on a run of six straight games with more than 22 DraftKings points. Wake is a solid team up front, but Appalachian State proved time and again that they can play with anyone. Two of James Madison's three losses on the season were to the Mountaineers. Gregory scored 60 DraftKings points in those games.
Brandon Walker, Montana State ($3.7K)
I love the low prices on the Montana State players. Walker doesn't start, but he's a high-energy piece off of the Bobcats' bench. He scored 46.25 DraftKings points over the final two games of the Big Sky tournament. His ceiling is much higher than most value plays. They all have terrifying floors. Walker is an acceptable risk at this price in GPPs.
Also consider: Jonathan Mogbo, San Francisco ($8.3K); Caden Pierce, Princeton ($8K); Efton Reid III, Wake Forest ($6.7K); Tyreek Smith, SMU ($6.4K); Toibu Lawal, VCU ($5.5K); Miles Rubin, Loyola-Chicago ($5.3K); Zach Martini, Princeton ($4.4K); Ja'Heim Hudson, SMU ($4.3K)
