College Basketball Grind Down: Thu, Jan 23rd
Thursdays have quickly become the 2nd most popular day for CBB behind Saturdays, and the FanDuel has responded as such increasing their guarantees across the board. There are hardly any NBA games on Thursdays so it’s time to get in these contests and fill them up so CBB can continue growing.
There are a couple of high tempo games right at the end of the slate tonight so I would expect most of the contests to not be decided until real late. There are 11 games on the docket and I should be able to get to most of them.
Oregon 86 at Washington 83
Oregon
Oregon comes into this game losing 4 in a row after starting out 13-0. Granted, they really had not beaten anyone of note in their fast start and had needed overtime to beat Ole Miss, BYU, and Utah so seeing them lose 4 in a row is not as surprising to me as others. They are great for fantasy purposes as they play at a super fast tempo and do not play defense. While the rotation is a bit sporadic, Joe Young and Mike Moser are the 2 guys they rely on the most. Moser always makes a solid play and Young is coming off of 2 duds which should lower his price. He is risky, but not a bad play here. Artis is stuck around 20 minutes of playing time and really not succeeding. I would venture to say that Richard Amardi is potentially one of their better players but he is short for the 5 and does not get many minutes. Just because of the large disparity in minutes I would not consider any Duck to be a particularly great play.
Washington
I bet CJ Wilcox is salivating on playing the Ucks today (Since Oregon plays without the D), as Oregon absolutely cannot stop any guards. Oregon let Nelson go for 30, Randle for 23, Brown for 24, Mathews for 32, Cobbs for 20, Booker for 27 and Dinwiddie for 23. I will own CJ Wilcox most likely everywhere tonight and may pair him up with Nigel Williams-Goss in a few places. These two teams make for the best matchup of the night and you really cannot go wrong with any Husky. Andrews and Blackwell both make solid plays as well against a team who couldn’t stop Richard Simmons in a dance video.
Stanford 75 at UCLA 83
Stanford
We get another barnburner late as Stanford travels to Pauley to take on the Bruins. UCLA plays fast so give a little boost to Stanford tonight even though I could see them getting blown out. Chasson Randle has been fantastic lately, and makes a good play again as he should be able to get some easy shots in the UCLA zone. I also think that Dwight Powell is going to have a monster game in this one standing at the top of the zone as he is a triple threat at the free throw line; he can pass, drive, or kick when the defense collapses on him. Anthony Brown is a solid gamble as his price has came down. I’m not so big on Josh Huestis tonight as I think his game is really hindered by the zone, and if you read my stuff often you know how much I dislike Nastic.
UCLA
The fun for me using Kyle Anderson is almost over. He has about priced himself out of my range with his ridiculous performances in every game. You will have to pay for him, but he is in that range right now that you really need some great value options to be able to afford him. I really like his matchup tonight though and he should be good for another 40 fantasy points again. I would go Jordan Adams in this game over Anderson because Stanford defends the 2 very well and has allowed teams to shoot at a good 3 point percentage in this one. I think Jordan Adams, Zach LaVine, and Bryce Alford are going to do most of the damage here so to get some exposure to UCLA I will probably pick Adams and hope he can almost keep up with Anderson.
Utah 65 at Arizona State 70
Utah
The Utes have turned back into a plodding team after being somewhat fast at the beginning of the year. Renan Lenz is out tonight, which really means nothing in the grand scheme of things. The guys to own here are Delon Wright and Jordan Loveridge who should both play almost the entire game. Everyone else other than Brandon Taylor can really be ignored. Delon Wright does his damage in the paint driving to the bucket, but could be effected by Bachynski in the middle. I think the more likely scenario is he finds ways to get to the free throw line and still puts up decent numbers. It will be interesting to see for me who McKissic guards, Loveridge or Wright as McKissic is a really solid on-ball defender. Both of these teams are very similar but Utah likes to take it’s time on offense and Arizona State loves to jack up shots quickly. I would put Wright as a solid play but near the middle of the top tier players. I would stray a bit from Loveridge as well tonight.
Arizona State
I mentioned above at Delon Wright’s propensity to drive and get to the free throw line, well most of those drives will end up in Jordan Bachynski’s face. I am avoiding him tonight as I think he could get into foul trouble early and he has not really been a big part in the offense of late. Jermaine Marshall should be back for this game which will help Carson’s assist totals but may take away from his points. I still like Jahii as he played fairly well against Arizona after being pretty bad for the previous 5 games. I think his price is pretty low right now and he should have a major advantage against Brandon Taylor in this one as well. Overall, Utah is fairly slow and should drag Arizona State down a little so I am not loving ASU guys fully today.
Florida 62 at Alabama 58
Florida
Prather came back with a vengeance, scoring 21 points on 8 of 10 shooting against Auburn, and rendering Dorian Finney-Smith almost useless for his large salary. Florida is finally getting healthy and should be distributing minutes better now. I really do not think too many guys give value on Florida at Alabama who is one of the slowest teams in the nation and plays serviceable defense. If anyone is used, I may actually look at Pat Young in this game who should be good for his 15-8 numbers against a team who gives up a lot of offensive rebounds and cannot stop the 2.
Alabama
Well, it does not look real good for Alabama here. They are projected to score 58 points, and have really been horrible on offense, expecially last game where they scored 47 against Missouri. The upside is definitely limited here and I wouldn’t even think about rostering anyone other than Releford. The problem with Releford is he will most likely be defended by Wilbekin who is a tenacious defender. This is just a bad spot to pick players from.
Nebraska 72 at Penn St 74
Nebraska
The win over Ohio State was a pretty impressive one, and now they have to travel to Penn State to take on a team who is a in a tailspin after a heartbreaker to Purdue. Petteway had 8 turnovers last game, but that will not be the case today against Penn State who refuses to turn you over. I think Petteway is on pace for a monster game in this one against Penn State who refuses to guard the 3 point shot. Also look at Ray Gallegos to get a few extra looks but I hope I do not have to explain he is very very risky; I would use in GPP only. Shavon Shields gets a ton of run as well but I don’t really like him here as he has really been struggling offensively lately.
Penn State
How do the Nittany Lions respond to the Purdue game? They should win those one at home and Newbill and Frazier should have a field day driving the ball agains the Nebraska defense. Nebraska will also put you on the line, so I really like both Frazier and Newbill today. They have been underpriced lately but the last game might have brought it up a bit. I wouldn’t mind gambling on Ross Travis either as I think he gets some rebounds and points in this one. I hope Penn State keeps John Johnson off the court as he takes some ridiculously unadviseable 3’s and is a general detriment to the team on both ends of the court.
Seton Hall 66 at St. John’s 72
Seton Hall
Both of these teams are on my least favorite list this year. Let’s start with Seton Hall. Theyh ave Gene Teague back who only played 23 minutes working himself back in to the flow and managed to put up 10 points and 9 rebounds. Teague is a beast inside when he wants to be but is facing a very solid interior defense from St. John’s. He is a nice gamble if he is cheap, but I am going to let him play another game before going all in. Fuquan Edwin put up a monster game last time out, but he has some sort of sick addiction to fouling the other team. Both him and Teague get into more foul trouble than I could ever imagine. The great thing about Edwin is that he is very cheap most everywhere and if he continues to play a big part in the offense (which she should), he should put up some nice fantasy totals. Mobley and Oliver seem to have lost their shot at being stars on the team as this is Gibbs, Edwin, and Teague’s team. Gibbs has been very consistent in the last 3 games posting huge numbers in assists while getting to the free throw line. Do not sleep on him against a St. John’s team who will foul.
St. John’s
This team just is very average. They do nothing well except for block shots and stop opponents from shooting 2’s. No one is particularly good at shooting the basketball; D’Angelo Harrison is their #1 option and has the most upside, but due to the lack of rebounds and assists, he is very risky as he definitely has the ability to go 0/12. JaKarr Sampson is the most consistent option but has limited upside. I really would not consider anyone else from the team just due to the distribution of minutes and the variance in minutes given to the players.
Houston 69 at Memphis 81
Houston
The Cougars are finally getting healthy with LJ Rose and Danuel House coming back from injury. Both are playing limited minutes but both have solid upside in places where their price may have gone down. TaShawn Thomas is still a stud and should have areally solid game tonight against Memphis. Thomas has been a bit up and down since the beginning of the season but still has massive upside due to his blocking prowess and rebounding skills. Thomas has had a little bit of his stats taken away by Chicken Knowles who is playing a good 20-30 minutes per game and is contributing almost 10 rebounds a game for the last 6 games. It will be interesting to see the rebounding splits with House, Knowles, and Thomas healthy. I think Houston tries to go big against the shorter Tigers which may backfire as it could make it easier for Memphis to own them in transition.
Memphis
Memphis last beat up on LeMoyne Owen, but it effected their salaries positively as most of the starters did not play most of the 2nd half. Jackson, Crawford and Goodwin all played way under season averages. Joe Jackson is Mr. Consistent and should again post a nice 25 point stat line in a game which Memphis should dominate on the offensive side of the ball. I am not too big on Shaq Goodwin today who might struggle against the height and skill inside from Houston. Remember, Houston played a guard oriented team in Connecticut and beat them without House or Rose. Memphis is awful at shooting the 3 and awful at free throws so I am expecting a lot of Joe Jackson and Geron Johnson drives in this one. It is hard to trust Austin Nichols as Pastner has gone 11, 32, 19, 26, 19 in minutes in the last 5 for Nichols and nothing seems to be consistent.
Illinois 54 at Ohio State 65
Illinois
Who would have thought 2 weeks ago that this would be a battle of 2 teams who have lost 4 straight and 2 teams who are really struggling to score right now. This game is at Ohio State who has the number one perimeter defense in the nation and the number one defense overall. Illinois is going to have a very hard time breaking 50 in this one, and I really hate everyone. Rayvonte Rice is the only guy I would consider however he’s the most expensive with a tiny upside. Just ignore this team completely.
Ohio State
Just two weeks ago pundits were declaring Ohio State as the team to beat in the Big 10. Well, fast forward 2 weeks and their problems that were there before are now more pronounced. They have no pure scorer and their offense is very stagnant at times. They should be able to win this game, and LaQuinton Ross should be able to dominate on an undersized and underskilledIllinois frontcourt, but he is the only guy I would consider. This is going to be a slow, grind it out, tough game with some pretty ugly offense. When Ross is on, hes a 22-8 type of guy who can get you 30fp for a cheaper price.
UCF 57 at Cincinnati 72
UCF
UCF last played SMU who had the #1 ranked 2pt defense in the country, and that did not go so well. They only scored 46 points and their stud Isaiah Sykes ended up with 6 points 2 assists and 5 rebounds, definitely not good for his price. Cincinnati is also impossible to score on inside, so this is a clear fade for me as Sykes does most of his damage driving to the hoop. Tristan Spurlock was the trigger from outside for UCF, which is really the only way to get anywhere against Cincy. I would not recommend any UCF players but Kasey Wilson and Spurlock are the 2 bets bets here. Eugene McCrory is a value option but he really was horrible last game and gave up minutes to Matt Williams and Staphon Blair.
Cincinnati
The Bearcats continue to plug away by not letting any team score inside and escaping offensively. This won’t work against a hot shooting 13 seed in the tournament but it will rack up wins in the regular season. UCF is awful inside so this looks like a great matchup for Justin Jackson and Titus Rubles. Rubles has a horrible offensive game but is cheap and can rebound and pass. Justin Jackson does everything well and could be on his way to a monster double double with some blocks against the awful UCF frontcourt. I like Sean Kilpatrick here but I am not exactly sure how much upside he has as UCF really did a solid job of limiting SMU’s perimeter players. Everyone else on Cincinnati makes me cringe when I watch them play offense.