College Basketball Daily Fantasy Helper: Friday 12/4/20

College basketball season is finally here, and we have a three-game slate today.

March Madness is a ways off at this point, but you can get in all the college hoops hype by playing daily contests at FanDuel today. If you've played NBA DFS before, it's quite simple: pick a total of eight players -- four guards, three forwards, and one utility spot you can use for either position. Stay within the $50,000 salary cap and field the team you think will score the most fantasy points.

Where scoring differs from NBA is in the blocks and steals categories, with each worth two FanDuel points apiece rather than the three you get in daily NBA contests.

Now that you're in the know, we can attack today's slate, which locks at 7:00 p.m. EST.

Which players should you be targeting, and why?

Guards

Chris Duarte, Oregon ($7,000) - Duarte was named to the preseason All Pac-12 first team. The senior will likely play as many minutes as he can handle with fellow teammate and preseason all-conference first team guard Will Richardson out indefinitely. Duarte is also one of the best defenders in the Pac-12 and has the ability to rack up a lot of steals which is great for FanDuel's scoring system. He also had the second-highest usage rate amongst the Ducks' starters in the season opener (20.1% per KenPom). Amauri Hardy ($4,400) will likely start at point guard for the Ducks on Friday night. He struggled in the season opener but he's cheap and worth a look.

Jared Rhoden, Seton Hall ($6,400) - Rhoden is playing a ton of minutes and taking a lot of shots for the Seton Hall Pirates. Through three games, the junior is averaging 13 field goal attempts per game. He's also played at least 31 minutes in all three games. Rhoden ranks second amongst the Pirates in scoring (15.7 points per game), rebounds (7.3), and steals (1.7).

LJ Figueroa, Oregon ($5,600) - Figueroa was deemed immediately eligible by the NCAA on Thursday after transferring from St. John's (NY). The senior averaged 14.5 points, 4.5 rebounds, 2.1 assists, and 2.4 blocks/steals in 28.3 minutes as a member of the Red Storm during the 2019-2020 season. He should step into a huge role immediately as the Ducks are without Will Richardson.

Brandon Newman, Purdue ($5,200) - You're going to want to get exposure to the Purdue Boilermakers considering they're carrying an implied team total nearing 79 points (slate high). Newman redshirted last season and now starts at shooting guard for the Boilermakers. The freshman owns a solid 25.1% usage rate, per KenPom which second-highest amongst all Boilermakers playing at least 50% of the minutes. Newman leads Purdue in minutes per game (32) and ranks second in points per game (15.3).

Forwards

Eugene Omoruyi, Oregon ($7,400) - After sitting out as a transfer last season, Omoruyi made an immediate impact for the Ducks in their season opener. The senior went off for 31 points, 11 rebounds, 1 assist, and 1 block in 34 minutes against Missouri. While his monster 35.5% usage rate (per KenPom) likely won't be sustainable over the course of the season, it shows that Oregon's priority is getting the ball in Omoruyi's hands as much as possible.

Sandro Mamukelashvili, Seton Hall ($7,200) - Mamu is off to a fantastic start this season. The Pirates' center has scored at least 18 real-life points in all three games and he's recorded two double-doubles. Additionally, the senior rarely leaves the court and is posting a team-high 32.8% usage rate, per KenPom.

Trevion Williams, Purdue ($6,300) - Williams owns a 32.9% usage rate and has strong peripheral rebounding, assists, and blocks rates, per KenPom. Basically, he makes his imprint in every statistical area which is great for DFS. Throw a matchup with the Valparaiso Crusaders, who struggle defensively, and Williams looks like one of the best plays on Friday night. The Crusaders are 144th in KenPom's defensive rankings.

Micah Potter, Wisconsin ($6,200) - Potter is averaging an eye-popping 1.21 FanDuel points per minute this season. At that production rate, he should pay off his price tag in 20.7 minutes of action (assuming value is 4x the salary tag). Potter is averaging 22.3 minutes per game this season. His minutes figure to go up with a competitive game on tap against the Marquette Golden Eagles. The Wisconsin Badgers have blown out their last two opponents which has kept Potter's playing time down.

Zach Edey, Purdue ($4,800) - Edey will likely be limited to around 20 minutes. However, the 7'4" center can fill up the score sheet in a hurry as Edey is Boilermakers leading scorer and leading rebounder. He's averaging 16.3 points, 6.7 rebounds, and 0.7 blocks in 18.7 minutes. He has a huge height advantage over Valparaiso as they don't have any players over 6'8".

Mileek McMillan, Valparaiso ($3,000) - The senior big man is posting a healthy 35.5% usage rate this season, per KenPom. He poured in 18 real-life points against Vanderbilt Commodores in the season opener. He's not going to be comfortable to roster but McMillan checks in at the minimum salary on Friday night. He's a foul machine (called for 5.6 fouls per 40 minutes per KenPom) which has likely kept his price tag cheap. He only played 13 minutes in the Valparaiso Crusaders' second game, due to racking up four fouls. However, you will not find anyone with his upside in his price range provided that he stays out of foul trouble.

Matthew Hiatt is not a FanDuel employee. In addition to providing DFS gameplay advice, Matthew Hiatt also participates in DFS contests on FanDuel using his personal account, username easternmh. While the strategies and player selections recommended in his articles are his/her personal views, he may deploy different strategies and player selections when entering contests with his personal account. The views expressed in his articles are the author’s alone and do not necessarily reflect the views of FanDuel.