RADIO
Conference play begins in earnest for most teams with the new year today. We have a monster slate with 12 games before the NBA and Rose Bowl take over later this afternoon and into the evening. Let's enjoy this one! 12 game slates haven't happened often in the college basketball universe yet this year.
We begin with three noon tipoffs with West Virginia in Austin, Creighton heading to Milwaukee to take on Marquette, and Memphis heading to Wichita. Starting off the afternoon we have Baylor in Ames and Villanova taking on Seton Hall. Providence and DePaul tip an hour after that. We get into the evening with George Mason heading to the Phog to take on Kansas. Virginia heads up to the Carrier Dome to take on every Boeheim in upstate New York (there's a lot of them). Kansas State tips in Norman for those of you that just aren't that excited for the Fiesta Bowl. We end the night out west with Utah in Eugene to take on the Ducks. There are some great ones in here!
In this article, I will be providing you with my daily fantasy college basketball lineup picks for DraftKings on 1/1/22 starting at noon Eastern. I’ll be providing multiple player suggestions for players at guard and forward, aiming to highlight one option apiece at the high, middle, and lower end of the salary scale. Good luck, RotoBallers.
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DraftKings CBB DFS Guards
Christian Braun, Kansas ($8,000)
Guard is loaded, which is no surprise considering the state of this slate. Braun isn't even the most reknowned player on his own team, let alone this slate. However, Braun has been the best player on the Jayhawks for much of the month of December. He is stuffing the stat sheet in every possible way right now. Those peripheral stats can add up in a hurry, which is what has propelled Braun to seven straight games of more than 30 DraftKings points. No one else on the team can say that. Kansas has one of the better matchups on the slate. Braun is the Jayhawk I will have the most exposure to.
Will Richardson, Oregon ($7,100)
The Ducks have had the Holiday break and the Colorado game got COVIDed, so they haven't played a game in 11 days. The Ducks will be well rested against a solid Utah team. Richardson may not be most talented player on the team, but he is the engine that makes it go. Richardson is a good rebounder as a guard and leads the team in assists this month, all while putting up 66 actual points in the last four games. Richardson is trending upwards, but he's still priced very reasonably.
Ryan Nembhard, Creighton ($5,700)
Marquette is having issues controlling opposing guards so far this season. That's great news for a team like Creighton who routinely runs three or more guards on the court at a time. Nembhard isn't the scorer so he doesn't have a ton of upside, but he has a great floor because of his defense and court vision. He is almost always within six DraftKings points of his 26 per game average this season. He's better suited for cash games, but he has solid upside against Marquette as well.
Landers Nolley, Memphis ($4,900)
Nolley followed up a big game in the upset of Alabama with a positive COVID test that sidelined him for a shade over two weeks. The time off didn't affect him. Nolley led the Tigers in scoring in his return against Tulane earlier this week. That's back-to-back games over 30 DraftKings points for Nolley. This is a good matchup against Wichita State and I'm riding the hot hand at this price.
Bryce Aiken, Seton Hall ($3,700)
Aiken spurred the team to an upset over Texas and was instrumental in another comeback bid against Providence that fell just short. Aiken hasn't cracked the starting five yet, but he has played 78 minutes over the last three games, finishing in double digits in each game while racking up 77.25 DraftKings points. That's great value for the price.
Also consider: Kameron McGusty, Miami ($8,300); Caleb Mills ($6,500); A.J. Reeves, Providence ($6,300); Sean McNeil, West Virginia ($5,600); Umoja Gibson, Oklahoma ($5,100); Kadary Richmond, Seton Hall ($4,900); Tyson Etienne, Wichita State ($4,800)
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DraftKings CBB DFS Forwards
Jericole Hellems, North Carolina State ($7,400)
Hellems is a high-motor player that plays a ton of minutes for the Wolfpack. He has played all but seven minutes out of the last four games and has 71 DraftKings points over the last two. Hellems is a really good defender, a solid passer, and arguably the best scorer on the team. He's a constant double-double threat though he has yet to record one yet this year. Hellems feels cheap for the type of numbers he is capable of putting up.
Ryan Hawkins, Creighton ($7,200)
His poor shooting in the inexplicable loss to Arizona State on December 14 is the only blemish on a stellar December for Hawkins. He has at least 32 DraftKings points in the other three December games, including cracking 40 in a blowout win over Villanova at the Birdcage in Creighton's last game on December 17. I'm using him at least once to see if the hot streak continues.
Ryan Kalkbrenner, Creighton ($6,500)
Kalkbrenner is second in the nation in field goal percentage (72.6%) and has at least nine rebounds in every game in December. Not only that, he has 14 blocks in just the last four games! He's one of the elite rim protectors in college and the only Creighton guy that doesn't shoot threes. Marquette is going to have their hands full with Kalkbrenner in this one.
Cole Swider, Syracuse ($5,800)
DraftKings hasn't been shy about pricing up most pieces of Syracuse. They missed the memo on Swider again. He has at least 25 DraftKings points in six straight games. He's the kind of player that does a little bit of everything on the court which keeps his floor high. If I'm getting 25 for this price, I'm a pretty happy guy. The ceiling isn't all that high because of all the weapons on this team, but we can't ignore how consistent he's been of late. Jesse Edwards has been nearly as consistent as Swider, but I don't know how much you really want to go after a defense like Virginia.
Josh Oduro, George Mason ($3,600)
The Patriots have played some solid teams so far like Georgia, Washington, and San Diego State. Oduro has put up good numbers in all of those games. He leads the Patriots in points per game and usage rate. One of the best-kept secrets in college basketball DFS is using a guy with a usage rate like this that is dirt cheap in a game where they are overmatched. Oduro is still going to play somewhere around 30 minutes. He could be an excellent value play on this slate.
Also consider: Timmy Allen, Texas ($7,800); Jayden Gardner, Virginia ($7,300); Noah Horchler, Providence ($6,900); Justin Lewis, Marquette ($6,800); Myles Cale, Seton Hall ($5,600); Flo Thamba, Baylor ($4,100)
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