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The NFL still has Monday Night Football going on, so college basketball hasn't started their "Big Monday" slates that are tailor-made for ESPN. We have five games on tap tonight with only two Power Six teams in action. The rest feature mid-major squads. Luckily, we have seen most of these teams in action and on DraftKings slates so far, so we know what we're getting into.
We start in Orlando with Maine heading down for some warm weather and basketball with UCF. Bradley heads to Pittsburgh to take on Duquesne. Oakland heads to East Lansing to take on a Michigan State team that just steamrolled Baylor. A half-hour later, we have Murray State in Little Rock to take on UALR. We end this in Fresno with Portland State in town to take on the Bulldogs.
In this article, I will provide you with my daily fantasy college basketball lineup picks for DraftKings on 12/18/23, starting at 7 PM Eastern. I’ll provide multiple player suggestions at guard and forward, aiming to highlight one option at the high, middle, and lower end of the salary scale. Good luck, RotoBallers.
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DraftKings CBB DFS Guards
Jamir Chaplin, Arkansas-Little Rock ($8,500)
After a slow start to the season, Chaplin has at least 26 DraftKings points in each of his last eight games. Seven of those were for more than 30. He's an efficient shooter for the Trojans, is active on the boards, and is tenacious on defense. The scoring is nice, but Chaplin's ability to contribute everywhere on the court gives him that high floor. He's a must for cash games and has good enough upside for GPP consideration.
Tyson Walker, Michigan State ($7,900)
The Spartans had some bumps in the road in the early going (to be fair...James Madison is still ranked and still undefeated). They lost back-to-back Big Ten (14) games to open December, so where did this come from? It came from Walker. He was simmering against Wisconsin and Nebraska, but he took over this game from the first possession. Walker's ceiling is better than anyone else on the slate. I will be heavily targeting him in GPPs.
Kellen Tynes, Maine ($6,700)
Tynes has been wildly inconsistent at times this season, which is a bit concerning. However, he's the guy that has the ball in his hands the most for Maine. When his shot is falling, Tynes doesn't look to pass. When he's cold, he gives it up freely. That works to keep his floor relatively high and should work even against a major conference team like UCF.
Xavier DuSell, Fresno State ($5,200)
DuSell was the best scorer on the Fresno team for the first few weeks of the season, but a late-November swoon moved people off of him. DuSell played 48 combined minutes against James Madison and UCSB without hitting a single shot. He has his confidence back with 30 points in the last two games. This is another good matchup for DuSell, so hopefully he can score like he did early on.
Also consider: Darius Johnson, Central Florida ($8,000); Dae Dae Grant, Duquesne ($7,600); A.J. Hoggard, Michigan State ($6,800); Quincy Anderson, Murray State ($5,700); Quion Burns, Maine ($4,000)
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DraftKings CBB DFS Forwards
Jaylen Crocker-Johnson, Arkansas-Little Rock ($7,200)
Crocker-Johnson worked his way into the starting lineup at the end of November and has responded with 133.25 DraftKings points in the five games. He is crashing the boards of late with 30 rebounds in the last three games alone. With the way Crocker-Johnson is playing right now, he's the best forward on the slate, or at least the most consistent one.
David Dixon, Duquesne ($6,300)
Dixon is a force in the middle for the Dukes. He has 23 blocks in nine games so far. He has picked up the rebounding a bit of late and has 10 steals in nine games, too. Almost none of Dixon's value is tied to scoring (he is only averaging 5.1 points per game) and he's still averaging 18.3 DraftKings points per game. The scoring is up a tick of late, but that's just a bonus. I'm after Dixon for the great defensive stats.
Marchelus Avery, Central Florida ($5,400)
Avery has at least 17.75 DraftKings points in every game this season. Most of his production is via points and rebounds, but at this price, we don't care. The New Mexico State transfer might be the best perimeter shooter the Knights have and is a solid contributor in all other categories. This is a great matchup for UCF. I will be over the field on Avery tonight.
A.J. Lopez, Maine ($3,600)
I understand the tougher matchup tonight for Maine, but Lopez at this price is just silly. He is averaging 12.2 points per game while playing 24 minutes or less per game so far this season. He's a good shooter off the bench and should be useful again tonight. If Lopez doesn't score, he likely won't hit value, but I'll take that risk in a GPP at this price.
Also consider: Trey Townsend, Oakland ($8,800); Eduardo Andre, Fresno State ($6,500); Fousseyni Drame, Duquesne ($5,700); Enoch Boakye, Fresno State ($5,300); Omar Payne, Central Florida ($5,100); Mady Sissoko, Michigan State ($4,400)
