This is the first of two days packed with college basketball before a break for Christmas. The early slate has some interesting games. The star power is at night. We have Florida State, Kansas, Marquette, Missouri, Illinois, and Colorado State all in action on this one. Strangely enough, DraftKings left off the Diamond Head Classic. Weird...
We begin in Tallahassee with Winthrop heading to town. We have a Big East battle in Milwaukee with Georgetown taking on Marquette. It's nerds vs. birds in Lawrence with Yale visiting the Phog. Maryland heads out west to take on UCLA. It's a border war in St. Louis with Illinois and Missouri doing battle on their customary neutral court. We end this with Colorado State taking on Loyola Marymount.
In this article, I will be providing you with my daily fantasy college basketball lineup picks for DraftKings on 12/22/23, 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
Kevin McCullar, Kansas ($9,200)
McCullar continues to produce at a high level for the Jayhawks. He is leading the team in scoring with 19.2 points per game and hauls in seven rebounds while dishing out almost five assists per game. This isn't against cupcakes either. Kansas has played arguably the toughest schedule in the country with Indiana, Missouri, Connecticut, Marquette, Kentucky, and Illinois already in their wake. McCullar has still produced good numbers even in blowouts, so I'm comfortable using him here.
Sean East II, Missouri ($7,600)
The injury to Caleb Grill has left a scoring void which East has filled nicely. East was playing big minutes anyway (33 or more in nine of 11 games), but his scoring has increased since Grill went down. He's an efficient shooter and an underrated passer. Missouri's offense routinely runs through East, giving him a lot of upside in an underrated rivalry game.
Quincy Guerrier, Illinois ($5,600)
The Oregon transfer has had a hard time getting his footing in Champaign. He finally had his first 20-point game for his new team in the loss to Tennessee and followed it up with a strong 15-point effort against Colgate. Guerrier finally looks more comfortable with his new team and the scoring should continue. He averaged 13.7 points per game for Syracuse in 2020-21.
Tamar Bates, Missouri ($4,700)
Bates is the guy who entered the starting lineup in place of Caleb Grill. He was on fire against Seton Hall, which resulted in him playing 28 minutes. This Missouri team is still trying to figure out what works without Grill, but the duo of Bates and East looked good against the Pirates and held their own against Kansas. I think we'll see more of that pairing going forward, which gives Bates great upside for the price.
Also consider: Tyler Kolek, Marquette ($8,400); Jahmir Young, Maryland ($8,200); Primo Spears, Florida State ($6,800); Dylan Andrews, UCLA ($6,200); Nick Honor, Missouri ($5,600); Jahari Long, Maryland ($3,700)
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DraftKings CBB DFS Forwards
Hunter Dickinson, Kansas ($10,100)
You can count me among those who thought that Dickinson's production would take a hit when he moved to Kansas, but so far, I've been wrong. Dickinson is averaging 0.7 points and 3.7 more rebounds per game than he did with Michigan last season. We are only about a third of the way through the season, but given the strength of the Kansas schedule, we have no reason to believe Dickinson will slow down anytime soon. His season-low in rebounds is eight and points is 13. That's a pretty high floor to start with. That's a bare minimum of 23 DraftKings points without counting steals, blocks, and assists.
KJ Adams Jr., Kansas ($7,300)
Adams is the forgotten man for Kansas. He was a prominent part of last year's team but has been overshadowed by McCullar and Dickinson this year. There's still plenty to go around. Kansas plays like a team that has been together for a while already. Everyone knows their roles. Adams is still averaging 13 points per game while picking up a decent number of steals and rebounds. The best part is that Kansas has left Adams on the court longer than Dickinson and McCullar in the last couple of blowouts. If that happens again, he could post big numbers against Yale.
Coleman Hawkins, Illinois ($6,200)
Hawkins is finally starting to pick up his scoring. He's not to the level of Kofi Cockburn yet and may never be, but if he's going to keep flirting with double-doubles while getting after it on both ends of the court, he's underpriced. His price has risen $1,000 over the last two games. Hawkins has 59.25 DraftKings points in those two games. He's still worth the price.
David Joplin, Marquette ($3,900)
Value is tougher on this slate, so I'm going with a proven value play. Marquette often runs nine or 10 deep, so Joplin's minutes are guaranteed to be around the 20-25 mark, as is the case with most of his teammates. Joplin is a really good spot-up shooter who can put up points in a hurry. That's a nice combination at $3,900.
Also consider: Julian Reese, Maryland ($9,700); Joel Scott, Colorado State ($6,900); Alex Merkviladze, Loyola Marymount ($6,500); Baba Miller, Florida State ($6,000); Rick Issanza, Loyola Marymount ($4,100)