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Free college basketball DFS picks and lineup advice for all three slates on DraftKings. Mike's expert NCAA DFS projections and sleepers help you build winning lineups for December 20, 2025.
Three college football playoff games can't possibly keep us occupied all day. Not when we're used to watching around two dozen per day. We can fill the void with college hoops! DraftKings has split up the 20 major games across three slates. We'll give the rundown on all three.
We've got some big names and some great matchups today. We'll go through all of those for each slate. We'll give you the core pieces with which you can build a cash or GPP lineup. Then, we'll have some value plays to make it all fit. And for you Ricky Bobby types, we'll give you guys who have a great ceiling with a low floor because, "if you ain't first, you're last."
Here are my picks across all CBB DFS slates on Saturday, December 20, with the main slate starting at noon EST on DraftKings. The afternoon slate tips off at 4 p.m. EST. The late slate starts at 8 p.m. EST.
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Today's Main Slate DraftKings CBB DFS Lineup Picks
Best Matchups:
- Michigan State vs. Oakland
- Louisville vs. Montana
- Kentucky frontcourt vs. St. John's
- Dayton frontcourt vs. Liberty
Core Pieces:
Caleb Wilson, North Carolina ($10.4K)
Caleb Wilson vs East Tennessee State..
20 PTS (6-12 FG, 1-2 3PT, 7-10 FTs)
8 REBS
2 ASTHe can’t be no lower than 3.. pic.twitter.com/lrEa4gB7u5
— Frankie Vision (@Frankie_Vision) December 17, 2025
Wilson hasn't finished under 30 DraftKings points in a game this season. He's already third on North Carolina's list for most double-digit scoring games to start a career.
There's nothing else that Caleb Wilson can do to prove how good he is. We'll just enjoy the ride for this year and keep playing him in DFS. He's one of the most consistent options out there.
Mason Falslev, Utah State ($9K)
Falslev has at least three steals in six straight games, at least five rebounds in all but one of the last eight games, and has scored in double figures in all but one game this season. His peripheral numbers make Falslev a great play in any format.
Even if he's playing against a tougher defense, we'll see Falslev produce in enough other categories aside from points to keep his floor high.
Jeremy Fears Jr., Michigan State ($8.1K)
Braden Smith and Jeremy Fears Jr. are dropping dimes left and right 😮💨
Will anyone be able to catch up to them? pic.twitter.com/9eYC8UPH6z
— FOX College Hoops (@CBBonFOX) December 17, 2025
Fears is every bit the passer that Braden Smith is. He just hasn't refined the rest of his game to the point that Smith has. Fears has at least six assists in every game and is nearly averaging a double-double. The ceiling isn't that high, but the floor is in the mid-20s.
Value Pieces:
Adrian Wooley, Louisville ($5K)
Mikel Brown Jr. is expected to miss another game with a back injury. Wooley had a big game with Brown out, scoring 19 points in a season-high 34 minutes. Expect his minutes to be in that area again against an overmatched Montana team. Wooley is too cheap for the potential.
Jaland Lowe, Kentucky ($4.6K)
The Pitt transfer doesn't have a defined role on the Kentucky team right now, but his performance over the weekend can only help. Lowe scored 13 points and hauled in five rebounds in 24 minutes in his best game as a Wildcat. Here's hoping that this gets him turned around.
Isaac McKneely, Louisville ($4K)
McKneely gets a lot of cardio. He plays around 30 minutes a game, even with Mikel Brown Jr. healthy. He played 35 against Tennessee with Brown out. He didn't do a lot with his minutes, but I love a value play that gets constant opportunities. If McKneely spends all but five minutes on the court, it doesn't get any better than that.
Slate-Breaking Potential:
Bruce Thornton, Ohio State ($9.7K)
Sometimes a play is as much about potential ownership as anything else. Most are going to see that Thornton is going against North Carolina and skip it. I won't be one of them.
Thornton is one of the elite scorers in college basketball (21.6 points per game), and he's piling up the peripherals this year. Thornton has only had one floor game this year, and it was in a blowout win. He has at least 36 DK points in four straight and has scored 90 points in those four games.
We could see a Wilson-like score out of Thornton at half the ownership and $700 cheaper.
Henri Veesaar, North Carolina ($8.6K)
It appears that Veesaar's leaving Arizona has been good for both his old team and his new one. Sometimes things just work out that way. Veesaar has scored in double figures in every game with his new team and has posted five double-doubles already.
Isaac Garrett, Oakland ($7.5K)
This is a very tough matchup against Michigan State, but Garrett has done everything for Oakland this year. Purdue is the only team to hold him under 27 DK points in a game, and that was in the second game of the season.
Therein lies the risk. If Michigan State can stop Garrett, the floor is below 20. However, he is averaging 31.3 DK points per game this year. If he hits his season average at this price, that could break the slate.
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Today's Afternoon Slate DraftKings CBB DFS Lineup Picks
Best Matchups:
- Virginia vs. Maryland
- Mississippi State vs. Memphis
- Memphis guards vs. Mississippi State
- Santa Clara frontcourt vs. Loyola-Chicago
- Northwestern guards vs. Butler
Core Pieces:
Josh Hubbard, Mississippi State ($9.1K)
Hubbard has an elite matchup, and he seems to be over the ankle injury that kept him out for a week (and tanked his stat line against San Francisco). Hubbard plays a ton of minutes and scores a ton of points.
The brutal early schedule for Memphis drags on. Hubbard has at least 40 DK points in four of his last six complete games. One of them was earlier this week, so I'm willing to agree that his ankle is fine.
Chance Mallory, Virginia ($7.5K)
We're going after another guy with an elite matchup. Mallory has between 23 and 33 DraftKings points in every game this season. Close games, blowouts, wins, losses, and everything in between. Mallory is as consistent as they come.
Hasan Abdul Hakim, Memphis ($6.5K)
Hakim missed the first several games with a quad injury and missed another two games earlier this month due to personal reasons. Since returning to the team, he has been one of the best players on the roster.
Hakim has 65 DK points in 68 minutes over the last two games. Memphis nearly knocked off Vanderbilt this week, and Hakim was the big reason why. Take advantage of this before DK blasts his price into the stratosphere.
Value Pieces:
Shawn Jones Jr., Mississippi State ($4.9K)
Jones is a starter for the Bulldogs, but sometimes he does little more than cardio. Still, we love the value plays to play a lot of minutes. You can't be on a court for 32 minutes a game and not find your way into some rebounds and a few points. Jones won't break a slate, but he's good for 15-20 DK points per game with decent potential for more.
Myles Rice, Maryland ($4.6K)
I would like to see more consistency out of Rice, but few players in this price range have the upside that he does. Rice has scored in double figures in three of his seven games this season.
The bad news is that he has been shut out in two games and scored just one point in another. He's a GPP-only dart at this point, but his upside is near 30.
Xavier Amos, Loyola-Chicago ($4.5K)
There's no better value play on any of the three slates than Amos. The Wisconsin transfer didn't make his season debut until Sunday, but he has scored 56.6 DK points in 49 minutes in his first two games of the season.
Slate-Breaking Potential:
Michael Ajayi, Butler ($9.6K)
Butler's Michael Ajayi was a BEAST yesterday in a win over Providence...
28 PTS
15 REB
8-18 FGYou think he's a candidate for Big East POY??🤔 pic.twitter.com/hvmFG56wQA
— MBB Performances (@mbbperformances) December 14, 2025
That represented a ceiling game for Ajayi, but 56.8 DK points is a hell of a ceiling! Northwestern is a solid defensive team, but its weakness is rebounding. Butler's strength is offensive rebounds.
Ajayi is tied for the nation's lead in rebounds with 11.5 per game. Going against a team that has trouble on the glass is a dream matchup, even without the scoring potential.
Trevon Brazile, Arkansas ($8.8K)
Brazile spent much of the 2024-25 season in John Calipari's doghouse. Now, he's just a dog. Brazile has scored 20 points in three of the last four games, all while keeping up the rebounding numbers.
I make it a point not to go after a strong defensive team like Houston, but Brazile's size can cause problems for the Cougars. He'll need to keep up his recent scoring surge to hit that ceiling, but I'm not going to rule it out. He had a big game against a big Texas Tech front last weekend.
Oscar Cluff, Purdue ($8K)
The South Dakota State transfer has posted back-to-back double-doubles against Minnesota and Marquette. Cluff is starting to get comfortable in his role on this team.
I don't like the matchup with Auburn, but it's not as prohibitive as it was last year. A guy like Cluff can get to this defense because he's an elite shooter. Cluff has only missed three of his 23 shot attempts over the last three games.
Today's Late Slate DraftKings CBB DFS Lineup Picks
Best Matchups:
- Georgetown vs. Xavier
- Creighton guards vs. Marquette
- New Mexico frontcourt vs. San Jose State
- Arizona guards vs. San Diego State
Core Pieces:
Cameron Boozer, Duke ($11.9K)
Cameron Boozer comparisons through 11 games, he's just having an all time seasonhttps://t.co/LOBfapUtvd pic.twitter.com/dokP9UrMj1
— wizzy (@youngwizzyDFS) December 18, 2025
At this point, if you're not using Boozer, you need to make sure that you hit on every other spot in your lineup. Boozer has at least 40 DK points in all but the Niagara game, in which he played 21 minutes. He still put up 32.8 DK points.
No one else has the floor that Boozer does, and maybe one or two players have the ceiling that he does. That puts us in a precarious spot if we go against the grain and don't use Boozer.
Filip Borovicanin, Xavier ($8.5K)
Even in the dreadful game against Creighton, Borovicanin put up 22 DK points. Hey, that was a team high. That's how bad that game was for Xavier. Borovicanin is a dangerous shooter and is very active on the boards.
That 22 DK points were his worst total since the opening game of the season against Missouri State, when he barely played. We should see a nice total out of Borovicanin against Georgetown.
BJ Davis, San Diego State ($6.7K)
We usually don't see this kind of offensive player for the Aztecs. Davis is a good creator for this offense, but he also excels at finding shots for himself. He's a very efficient scorer who is picky about the shots he takes.
If he's not sure about it, he'll pass it up. Davis has at least 28 DK points in four of the last five games since he started spending more time at the point. This is not a great matchup, but the risk is baked into the price.
Value Pieces:
Royce Parham, Marquette ($5K)
Parham is one of my favorite value plays because he is so consistent. He has between 13 and 23 DK Points in every game this season. It's hard to find such consistency at a value for cash games. Parham makes it easier on all of us.
Uriah Tenette, New Mexico ($4.9K)
Tenette is a stat sheet stuffer who sometimes scores some points. He has at least 16 DK points in eight straight games. That dud against Texas-Arlington six weeks ago is a distant memory. We can trust him again.
All Wright, Xavier ($4.7K)
What's in a name? In this case, everything. Wright is alright with me since he always scores in double figures in DK points and has a ceiling in the mid-30s.
Slate-Breaking Potential:
JT Toppin, Texas Tech ($10.5K)
Luckily for us, one of the few players that can get anywhere close to Boozer's ceiling is also on the late slate. Toppin cleared 70 DK points more than once last season and has been in the 60s twice already this year.
His floor is also lower than Boozer's, which leaves him here with the potential to score on Boozer's level, but it's unlikely that he does. Still, if Toppin does, he's significantly cheaper. He just needs to be within 10 DK points of Boozer to feel good about this play.
Chase Ross, Marquette ($8K)
When Ross gets hot, few players can keep up with his scoring. When he's cold (as he was against Georgetown this week), his floor is 20 points. Ross was 1-for-11 from the field against the Hoyas with just four points, but still hit 20 DK points. When he's hot, he can hit 50.
Brayden Burries, Arizona ($6.7K)
It's easy to overlook Burries in a loaded freshman class since he sometimes plays like a freshman. Boozer and Wilson don't. It's almost unfair. Burries has been on a heater lately, scoring 99 points over the last five games. His ceiling has never been higher, but this is a tough matchup.
