It’s only the second weekend of the college basketball season and we already have a massive matchup. #1 vs #2, as Gonzaga will square off against the Baylor at 1pm today (CBS). The game doesn’t only serve as a great game for college basketball fans but a great one for daily fantasy, as it is expected to be a high scoring affair. Unfortunately the slate did take a hit as the NC State vs UConn game was cancelled due to the coronavirus. Still there are five good games (four on FD) on the slate and the other four (three on FD) outside of the big one are EWU vs Arizona (SMU vs Dayton on FD), Washington St goes to Colorado to face McKinley Wright IV and the Buffs, Lipscomb faces Arkansas (not on FD) and South Carolina takes on #10 Houston. Here’s this Saturday’s Playbook.
| Top Guards | |||||||
| Player | Team | Opp. | DK $ | DK FPPG | FD $ | FD FPPG | |
| McKinley Wright IV | UC | WSU | 8800 | 38 | 7900 | 36.05 | |
| McKinley Wright IV is primed for a massive season for the Colorado Buffaloes. Last season he averaged 14.4 ppg, 5 apg and 5.7 rpg but with Tyler Bey off to the NBA he has become their primary scoring option. Through two games Wright has scored 22 ppg and still has been able to dish out assists and for a 6 foot guard gets you a handful of rebounds as well. The price tag is certainly steep but definitely see him having a great game vs Wazzu. If Wright is too many sheckles to fit in your lineup consider Maddox Daniels or Eli Parquet as paydown options. McKinley's typical runningmate D'Shawn Schwartz isn't expected to play (COVID) and Daniels and Parquet have scooped up his minutes. | |||||||
| Quentin Grimes | HOU | SCAR | 7400 | 29.17 | 6600 | 26.47 | |
| Despite being a highly coveted recruit out of high school Quentin Grimes could never quite live up to the hype at Kansas. Now he is at Houston and thriving. He's averaging 16 ppg, 7.3 rpg and 2 apg. Facing South Carolina, expect a big day from Grimes. We saw South Carolina get handedly beat by Liberty on last Saturday's slate and the Gamecocks gave up 11 threes. Grimes hasn't had the most efficient 3-point shooting season (28.6%) but he takes seven a game and SC will give up some open looks. On top of that Seventh Woods missed their last practice with a knee injury and is a GTD, not sure who SC will put on Grimes. So again expect a nice Saturday from the Cougars' star guard. | |||||||
| Joel Ayayi | GONZ | BU | 7100 | 31.58 | 7000 | 30.20 | |
| In the opening we mentioned you'd want to get some Gonzaga and Baylor players in your lineup as their game should be a high scoring one. We will start Gonzaga's guard Joel Ayayi. The French guard has great size for guard and had a massive jump from his freshman to sophomore season, now in his junior year expect another jump. Ayayi has only averaged 13.7 ppg but he gets you a lot of fantasy points with his rebounding (7.7 rpg) and steals (2.1 spg). He also plays at the two so he doesn't turn the ball over that much. Also keep in mind that freshman stud Jalen Suggs had an injury scare vs WVU, he was able to return but could be limited in this one. | |||||||
| Jalen Crutcher | DAY | SMU | 6500 | 26.00 | |||
| Lost in the buzz surrounding Dayton's Obi Toppin last year is the season that their lead guard Jalen Crutcher had. Crutcher 15.1 ppg, 4.9 apg, 3.2 rpg and a spicy 42.4% from 3-point land. With Toppin now gone, Crutcher needs to do a little more for the Flyers and through one game he has oblidged. In Dayton's opener he only had 13 points but chipped in six assists and five rebounds. Against SMU expect a high scoring affair (144.5 O/U) and Crutcher to be a big part of it. Keep in mind the SMU Dayton game is not on DK's main slate but if you are playing FD get him in your lineup. | |||||||
| Value Guards | |||||||
| Player | Team | Opp. | DK $ | DK FPPG | FD $ | FD FPPG | |
| Mark Vital | BU | GONZ | 6300 | 24.33 | 5600 | 23.10 | |
| Mark Vital is college basketball's best glue guy. So far for Baylor this year he has averaged 6.3 ppg, 8 rpb, 2.3 apg, 1.3 bpg and 1.3 spg. He isn't great at one thing but he is good at EVERYTHING. In a big tilt against Gonzaga expect Vital to stuff the stat sheet. If you are feeling a little spendy you could pivot to his teammate Jared Butler ($7800 DK, $7700 FD) but I may like Vital more because you know what you are going to get and that is a bit of everything. | |||||||
| Jemarl Baker Jr. | AZ | EWU | 5700 | 10 | |||
| Baker was another highly coveted recruit who spent his first two years at Kentucky. For him it was injuries that really derailed his career with Big Blue Nation. Last year in his first season with Arizona he came off the bench but he sported a nice 3.2-to-1 assist-to-turnover ratio (9th in the country amount players with 70+ assists). This year he's the starting PG but in Arizona's lone game of the season he did not have a good one. He only played 16 minutes but that may have more to do with the opponent and Sean Miller upset with him going 1-8 from the floor and 1-6 from three. He is heralded as a shooter so we will chalk it up an off night and look for him to have a nice game against a Eastern Washington team that gave up 10 threes in their opener vs Wazzu. Keep in mind this game isn't in the FD slate but could be a nice cheaper option in DK. | |||||||
| Andrew Nembhard | GONZ | BU | 5400 | 20.58 | 4800 | 19.13 | |
| It was quite surprising this offseason when Andrew Nembhard announced he was going to transfer from Florida. Gonzaga who always seems to land good transfers, Washington transfer Nigel WIlliams-Goss comes to mind a few years ago, got Nembhard to come to Spokane. He is the first guy off the bench but that doesn't stop him from producing as he has averaged 20 fantasy points through 3 games. Mentioned earlier that Suggs may not be 100% in this one which can open the door for Nembhard to have a big game for the Zags. | |||||||
| Top Forwards | |||||||
| Player | Team | Opp. | DK $ | DK FPPG | FD $ | FD FPPG | |
| Connor Vanover | ARK | LIPS | 8700 | 40.5 | |||
| Drew Timme had a nice freshman season in Spokane but played behind Killian Tillie and Filip Petrusev. Those two have moved on to play professionally and Timme has emerged as one of the better players in all of college basketball. He's averaging 23.3 ppg and 6.3 rpg for the Zags in his sophomore campaign. Again this is going to be a great game against Baylor and a ton of points are going to be scored. I would consider Timme or his teammate who you will read about next. | |||||||
| Corey Kispert | GONZ | BU | 7900 | 33.58 | 7400 | 31.33 | |
| Kispert was Gonzaga's leading returning scorer from last season and him and Timme make for what is probably the best frontcourts in the sport. Kispert is averaging 22.3 ppg, 5 rpg and 1.3 apg. Kispert is also a lights out 3-point shooter shooting 45% this year and has made three per game. His lowest scoring game this season game in their last game and he had 19, so if you put in Kispert you know he's going to get you points. | |||||||
| Jordan Brown | AZ | EWU | 6800 | 49.25 | |||
| Jordan Brown is yet another transfer on Sean Miller's Arizona Wildcats as he came over from Nevada. In his debut for 'Zona he was very impressive scoring 19 points and 15 rebounds. He might be Arizona's best player and whiole he may not give you 49.25 points like he did in the first game he provides good value amongst the highest priced forwards. Also it is his birthday if that is kind of stuff moves the needle for you. Again Arizona vs Eastern Washington is only on the DK main slate. | |||||||
| Ethan Chargois | SMU | DAY | 7200 | 33.93 | |||
| Ethan Chargois started 31 of 32 games as a sophomore for the SMU Mustangs but last season he only started 14 of 28 and his numbers suffered. This year he is back in the starting lineup and reaping the reqards. He is averaging 14.7 ppg, 8 rpg and 4 apg. Again, this game vs Dayton (while only on the FD slate) lends itself to be a higher scoring game with more possesions and expect Chargois to get his. | |||||||
| Value Forwards | |||||||
| Player | Team | Opp. | DK $ | DK FPPG | FD $ | FD FPPG | |
| Justin Minaya | SCAR | HOU | 6300 | 21.12 | 4600 | 19.25 | |
| After SC's game vs Liberty from last Saturday's slate I really didnt want to include any one from the Gamecocks. However Justin Manaya has a good matchup against a Houston team that doesnt have a ton of size and look at that FD price tag, its a bargain. | |||||||
| Tanner Groves | EWU | AZ | 5900 | 35.75 | |||
| Even though EWU are double digit dogs to Arizona, doesn't mean they wont have guys that have nice fantasy days. Tanner Groves provides great value after going for 17 points and nine rebounds against Wazzu in EWU's lone game. If you want you could go for a slight paydown option with his brother Jacob Groves ($5700) who can give you some flexibility as he is G/F eligible. | |||||||
| Ahsan Asadullah | LIPS | ARK | 5500 | 33.5 | |||
| When writing about Conor Vanover I mentioned that their tallest player is 6-8, well that player is Ahsan Asadullah. Even though he's their center Asadullah leads the team in assists per game with 5.7 apg. While the thought of him trying to post up Vanover scares me Lipscomb is a well coached team and I'm sure they'll find ways to get him involved. | |||||||
| Jonathan Tchamwa Tchatchoua | BU | GONZ | 4800 | 19.92 | 4400 | 18.83 | |
| Baylor typically has great size but these days they run four guards in their starting five. JTT (thats much easier to write dont you think?) comes off the bench for Baylor but gets steady minutes. Against Illinois who has a great big in Kofi Cockburn, JTT logged 24 minutes and scored nine points and grabbed nine rebounds. Playing another team with good size JTT can potentially get good minutes again and produce great valye for a rather small price tag. | |||||||
Example Lineups
(These are what is possible from the Playbook and not intended for plug and play)
Cash Plays
| DK Cash | FD Cash | ||||||||||
| Pos. | Player | Team | Opp | FPPG | Salary | Pos. | Player | Team | Opp | FPPG | Salary |
| G | Quentin Grimes | HOU | SCAR | 29.17 | $7,400 | G | Jalen Crutcher | DAY | SMU | 26 | $6,500 |
| Pivot | Pivot | ||||||||||
| G | McKinley Wright IV | UC | WSU | 38 | $8,800 | G | McKinley Wright IV | COLO | WSU | 36.05 | $7,900 |
| Pivot | Joel Ayayi | GONZ | BU | 31.58 | $7,100 | Pivot | Maddox Daniels | COLO | WSU | 16.55 | $4,300 |
| G | Andrew Nembhard | GONZ | BU | 20.58 | $5,400 | G | Mark Vital | BAY | GONZ | 23.10 | $5,600 |
| Pivot | Pivot | Jared Butler | BAY | GONZ | 31.40 | $7,700 | |||||
| F | Jordan Brown | AZ | EWU | 49.25 | $6,800 | G | Ibi Watson | DAY | SMU | 22.70 | $5,400 |
| Pivot | Mark Vital | BU | GONZ | 24.33 | $6,300 | Pivot | |||||
| F | Jonathan Tchamwa Tchatchoua | BU | GONZ | 19.92 | $4,800 | F | Corey Kispert | GONZ | BAY | 31.33 | $7,400 |
| Pivot | Pivot | $7,200 | |||||||||
| F | Ahsan Asadullah | LIPS | ARK | 33.5 | $5,500 | F | Jonathan Tchamwa Tchatoua | $4,400 | |||
| Pivot | Pivot | ||||||||||
| Util | Mark Vital | BU | GONZ | 24.33 | $6,300 | F | Drew Timme | GONZ | BAY | 32.26666768 | $7,700 |
| Pivot | Pivot | ||||||||||
| Util | Eli Parquet | UC | WSU | 15.62 | $4,300 | Util | Justin Minaya | SCAR | HOU | 19.25 | $4,600 |
| Pivot | Maddox Daniels | UC | WSU | 18 | $6,100 | Pivot | |||||
| Total | $49,300 | Total | $49,500 | ||||||||
GPP Plays
| DK GPP | FD GPP | ||||||||||
| Pos. | Player | Team | Opp | FPPG | Salary | Pos. | Player | Team | Opp | FPPG | Salary |
| G | Quentin Grimes | HOU | SCAR | 29.17 | $7,400 | G | Jalen Crutcher | DAY | SMU | 26 | $6,500 |
| Pivot | Pivot | Kendric Davis | SMU | DAY | 42.83 | $7,900 | |||||
| G | Jemarl Baker Jr. | AZ | EWU | 10 | $5,700 | G | Jared Butler | BAY | GONZ | 31.40 | $7,700 |
| Pivot | Andrew Nembhard | GONZ | BU | 20.58 | $5,400 | Pivot | |||||
| G | Mark Vital | BU | GONZ | 24.33 | $6,300 | G | Jermaine Couisnard | SCAR | HOU | 20.95 | $5,000 |
| Pivot | Pivot | ||||||||||
| F | Connor Vanover | ARK | LIPS | 40.5 | $8,700 | G | Mark Vital | BAY | GONZ | 23.10 | $5,600 |
| Pivot | Drew Timme | GONZ | BU | 34.75 | $8,500 | Pivot | Rodney Chatman | DAY | SMU | 21.40 | $5,300 |
| F | Jonathan Tchamwa Tchatchoua | BU | GONZ | 19.92 | $4,800 | F | Drew TImme | GONZ | BAY | 32.27 | $7,700 |
| Pivot | Pivot | ||||||||||
| F | Tanner Groves | EWU | AZ | 35.75 | $5,900 | F | Jordy Tshimanga | DAY | SMU | 20.60 | $4,900 |
| Pivot | Pivot | ||||||||||
| Util | Andrew Nembhard | GONZ | BU | 20.58 | $5,400 | F | Ethan Chargois | SMU | DAY | 33.93 | $7,200 |
| Pivot | Pivot | Chase Johnson | DAY | SMU | 28.40 | $6,200 | |||||
| Util | Ahsan Asadullah | LIPS | ARK | 33.5 | $5,500 | Util | Andrew Nembhard | GONZ | BAY | 19.13333384 | $4,800 |
| Pivot | Pivot | ||||||||||
| Total | $49,700 | Total | $49,400 | ||||||||