KenPom Matchups and Lines
- Temple (-3) vs Portland – 153
- Old Dominion (+6) vs Massachusetts – 156
- TCU (-5) at Hawaii – 151
- Nevada (-5) at Georgia Tech – 141
Core 4
Hysier Miller, G, Temple ($8,400) vs. Portland
Miller has taken over as the top dog for the Owls during his junior year. He’s the top floor/ceiling play on the slate as he’s yet to post a game under 25 fantasy points. Miller leads the team in usage, shot, and assist rate. He rarely comes off the floor and Portland is the worst defense on the slate (307th in Adj Def Eff). Also, raw points always come into play during these smaller slates, so you probably don’t want to get cute by fading him in a four-game contest.
Matt Cross, F, UMass ($8,200) vs. Old Dominion
Cross has been fantastic during this tournament, sporting back-to-back 40-fantasy point outputs. Like Portland, Old Dominion doesn’t play much defense (230th Adj Def Eff). They are 320th in Opponent 3pt%, 253rd in Opponent 2pt%, and 259th in Opponent Assist Rate while also struggling on the glass. This is a perfect spot for Cross who can play both inside and out. He also sports the highest combined rebounding rate on the team to go along with a 20% assist rate.
Jovon McClanahan, G, Hawaii ($5,500) vs. TCU
This won’t be the easiest matchup on paper, but Hawaii is the host underdog and McClanahan is underpriced for his ceiling. He’s played all but 11 minutes in the two games so far this tournament and produced just over 66 fantasy points. Again, the Horned Frogs present a much tougher matchup, but haven’t been as strong this year defensively as we are accustomed to. TCU ranked 23rd and 15th in Adj Def Eff the past two years but have fallen back to 63rd through the first 11 games of this season. Add in the tempo boost from TCU and McClanahan is one of the best point-per-dollar plays on the slate.
Tafara Gapare, F, Georgia Tech ($4,200) vs. Nevada
Coach Stoudemire is not afraid to mix up his lineups and rotations, which makes Gapare in the “Hammer” risky. All signs point to Gapare making another start after a solid 25-fantasy point performance against Hawaii. He didn’t start the first game of the tournament against UMass and only played six minutes. However, he had a 30.5 fantasy point performance the game before against Penn State off the bench in 28 minutes. If it’s too volatile then you may want to stop here and play one of the other four starters who are certainly locked into 30-minutes (George, Kelly, Reeves, Ndongo), but you won’t get a discount.
Strategy
Pricing overall on the slate is softer than it’s been recently. You can easily use both a “Stars and Scrubs” approach or a “Balanced” approach. You should look to attack the two weakest defenses on the slate in Portland and Old Dominion. With so many value and mid-tier options at guard, you are going to find it tough to get to the top without using both “Utility” spots on guards. Of course, you must always pay attention to injury news and starting lineups before lock as we never know what curveball could get tossed our way. Good luck!
Player Pool
Guards
- Hysier Miller ($8,400)
- Vasean Allette ($8,300)
- Keenan Blackshear ($8,100)
- Chauce Jenkins ($7,800)
- Noel Coleman ($7,400)
- Miles Kelly ($7,100)
- Tyler Harris ($7,000)
- Jarod Lucas ($6,700)
- Tyrone Williams ($6,500)
- Jahlil White ($6,400)
- Kowacie Reeves ($6,200)
- Keon Thompson ($6,100)
- Rashool Diggins ($6,000)
- JoVon McClanahan ($5,500)
- Nathian George ($5,400)
- Chris Austin ($5,200)
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Daniel Foster ($5,000)
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Matthue Cotton ($4,800)
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Jason Wade ($4,500)
- Juan Sebastian Gorosito ($4,200)
-
RJ Blakney ($4,000)
Forwards
- Emanuel Miller ($8,600)
- Josh Cohen ($8,500)
- Matt Cross ($8,200)
- Tyler Robertson ($7,700)
- Baye Ndongo ($7,500)
- Bernardo da Silva ($7,400)
- Nick Davison ($7,300)
- Steve Settle ($6,300)
- Tre Coleman ($5,800)
- Justin McKoy ($5,600)
- Tafara Gapare ($4,200)