Welcome back to the start of another weekend of college basketball action as we dive into top CBB DFS picks for Saturday. There are two games that pit Top-25 teams against each other- Terrance Shannon and No. 20 Illinois will be in Knoxville to take on No. 17 Tennessee and No. 23 Wisconsin heads to the McKale Center in Tucson to face Caleb Love and the No. 1 ranked Arizona Wildcats.  The slate will also feature suck stars as reigning Player of the Year Zach Edey from Purdue, Clemson’s PJ Hall and Johni Broom from Auburn. It's a 12-game slate on DraftKings while FanDuel has a 6-game slate. Let's dive into all the top CBB DFS picks and value plays at the guard and forward positions tonight. All college basketball odds below are via DraftKings Sportsbook when publishing. Good luck with your college basketball DFS lineups today!

 

College Basketball DFS Slate December 9, 2023

12p ET California @ Butler (-8.5) 147.0 O/U

12p ET Illinois @ Tennessee (-6.5) 145.5 O/U

1:30p ET Kansas State @ Louisiana State (-2.0) 142.5 O/U

1:30p ET Alabama @ Purdue (-6.0) 161.0 O/U

1:30p ET Florida State (-7.5) @ South Florida 145.0 O/U

2p ET Auburn (-6.5) @ Indiana 147.0 O/U

2p ET Louisville @ DePaul (-1.5) 149.5 O/U

3:15p ET Wisconsin @ Arizona (-9.5) 145.0 O/U

4p ET Arkansas @ Oklahoma (-4.5) 147.0 O/U

4p ET TCU @ Clemson (-1.0) 149.5 O/U

4p ET Richmond @ Florida (-10.5) 152.5 O/U

 

Top CBB DFS Guards

Caleb Love - Arizona vs. Wisconsin ($6.8K DK/7.5K FD)

When Caleb Love transferred to Arizona, we knew he would score but he also raised his game beyond just points. Love leads Arizona in scoring (13.3), assists (4.4) and steals (1.6), and has made an impact on the glass, something he didn’t do at North Carolina. Love has grabbed six rebounds or more in three of the seven games he has played for the Wildcats compared to only doing it 13 times in 101 games for North Carolina. Having a guard that rebounds has allowed Arizona to get into its offense early and has helped the Wildcats to the third-highest scoring average in the nation (93.4 ppg). With a 30.2 DK average over his last five games to go along with a 23% usage rate I love this price on the new Arizona lead guard- Caleb Love.

Chico Carter Jr. - DePaul vs. Louisville (6.4K DK)

Chico Carter Jr., once South Carolina’s most efficient shooter has certainly made his presence known after transferring to DePaul. The graduate senior is an offensive catch-and-shoot two-guard that shot 47% from the floor and 48% from beyond the arc last year. This season he is playing every minute minutes and averaging 14.4 points to go along with a 26.4% assist rate. He has put up over 26 DK points in every game this season but one, with a 30 DK point average over his last five. Carter Jr. just scored a game-high 21 points on Wednesday in a road loss to #21/19 Texas A&M. on 7-of-9 shooting, including four three-pointers while also dishing out four assists. Today we will see two mediocre defensive squads facing off and $6.4K DK is just too cheap for Chico Carter Jr.

Posh Alexander - Butler vs. California ($6.5K DK)

From Big East Freshman of the Year and Co-Defensive Big East Player of the Year in 2021 to the conference leader in steals for all three years at St. John’s, Posh Alexander has certainly accumulated individual accolades. He hasn’t missed a beat after transferring to Butler as Posh comes into today’s home game against California with a 30.5% assist and 3.7% steal rate. Butler has the third highest implied score of the slate at 77.75 points and Alexander is rolling with a 39.5 DK average over his last two games including a triple double against Texas Tech (10 points, 10 rebounds and 11 assists).  His price has even gone down $100 since the Tech game, making Alexander a main lineup candidate today against the Golden Bears.

Other Top CBB DFS Guards

Braden Smith, Purdue ($8.5K DK/7.8K FD)

Dalton Knecht, Tennessee ($7.6K DK/7.4K FD)

Tre White, Louisville ($6.8K DK)

Otega Oweh, Oklahoma ($6.7K DK/7.2K FD)

Riley Kugel, Florida ($6.6K DK) - One of my top GPP plays.

Kylan Boswell, Arizona ($5.8K DK/6.6K FD) - I will have either Boswell or Love in most of my lineups today.

AJ Storr, Wisconsin ($5.7K DK/5.6K FD)

 

Top CBB DFS Value Guards

Zakai Zeigler - Tennessee ($4.7K DK/4.5K FD)

Zakai Zeigler suffered a torn ACL last February in a win against Arkansas that sidelined him for the rest of the year. Despite the injury, he was among the 10 semifinalists for the Naismith Defensive Player of the Year award and was also named All-SEC Second Team and SEC All-Defensive Team. It took a little longer than expected and Zeigler struggled a bit in November, but he is now turning the corner as evident in the second half of the UNC game 10 days ago where he scored seven points in the half, knocking down a couple 3-pointers, grabbing three rebounds and, most telling, he had five assists in 19 minutes. Last game he played 28 minutes and scored 21 points and today Zeigler is home against Illinois. A sub-$5k healthy Zakai Zeigler is just too cheap.

Keonte Kennedy - California @ Butler ($4.5K DK)

Transfer Keonte Kennedy finally made his debut in the Bears’ 84-69 victory over Santa Clara last weekend.  Kennedy is a sixth-year player who made stops at Xavier, UTEP and, most recently, Memphis but hadn’t played in the Bears’ first seven games due to a wrist injury. The 6-foot-5 guard was in the starting lineup against Santa Clara and contributed 10 points, nine rebounds and four assists in 33 minutes. All reports are that Kennedy exhibited a swagger and vibe that Cal needs at this juncture and was the main catalyst in setting the tone against Santa Clara. I do not like these early games for a west coast team but this $4.5K DK price is nearly a free square for a player of Kennedy’s caliber. 

Other Top CBB DFS Value Guards

Chase Hunter, Clemson ($5.7K DK/5.4K FD)- FanDuel Value

Elijah Fisher, DePaul ($5.4K DK)

Dji Bailey, Richmond ($4.9K DK)

Mike Williams III, LSU ($4.9K DK/4.9K FD)

Rylan Griffin, Alabama ($4.7K DK/4.5K FD)- Sneaky GPP play.

Tre Donaldson, Auburn ($4.5K DK)

Gabe Cupps, Indiana ($3.9K DK)

 

Top CBB DFS Forwards

Zach Edey - Purdue @ Alabama ($11.7K DK/9.5K FD)

This weekend is a homecoming for Zach Edey as Purdue is in Toronto for a meeting with Alabama as part of a college basketball Hall of Fame Series. Edey is a Toronto native and it’s his first competitive game on home soil since moving from Leaside High School in Toronto to IMG Academy in Bradenton, Fla. for the final two years of his high-school career. Last year’s national Player of the Year has been one of the most dominant players in the nation over the last four years and has even taken a step forward this season, averaging 23.7 points (third in the NCAA), 11.2 rebounds (fifth) and 2.9 blocks (eighth) in the first nine games. He is the top player plus the most expensive player in DFS but with the solid value we have today Edey can fit into most of your lineups.

Emanuel Miller - TCU @ Clemson ($8.1K DK/8.0K FD)

Emanuel Miller is smashing. He was recently named Big 12 Conference Player of the Week Monday after performances against Houston Christian and Georgetown. The TCU senior forward averaged 24 points, four rebounds, 2.5 assists, and one block for the week. Against Georgetown, Miller had a career-best 29 points on 12-of-18 from the field and matched a career-high three made 3-pointers. Miller is averaging 33 DK over his last five games and leads the Horned Frogs with a 26.8% shot rate to go along with a 3.1% block and 3.6% steal rate. This is an under the radar play and we will usually get Emmanuel Miller low owned especially on a big slate like today.

Jamir Watkins - Florida State ($7.0K DK)

Redshirt sophomore Jamir Watkins transferred to Florida State from VCU last spring, and it was expected that his biggest contribution would be his defense. Watkins is an extremely versatile defender, averaging 1.9 blocks + steals per game last year but he has also shown that he is a very capable offensive performer. He comes into today’s game against USF with a 26.2% usage/24.4% shot rate to go along with a 20.0% defensive rebound, 24.8% assist and 3.1% steal rate. Over the last five games Watkins is averaging over 30 DK points (13.6 PPG) and has been one of the most consistent players in DFS with only one mediocre game- 17 DK against Georgia. Watkins is a core play for me today as he is just too cheap for this matchup against intrastate rival South Florida. 

Other Top CBB DFS Forwards

PJ Hall, Clemson ($9.8K DK/9K FD) - Hall is a high dollar pivot for the Edey faders.

Johni Broome, Auburn ($9.3K DK)

Jahmyl Telfort, Butler ($7.4K DK)

JaKobe Coles, TCU ($7.1K DK)

Arthur Kaluma, Kansas State ($7.5K DK)

Keshad Johnson, Arizona ($6.4K DK/6.9K FD)

Jalen Reed, LSU ($5.8K DK/5.4K FD)

 

Top CBB DFS Value Forward

Chauncey Wiggins - Clemson vs. TCU ($4.3K DK/4.5K FD)

6-foor-10 sophomore forward Chauncey Wiggins can play anywhere. He has even played up at the two spot, where 6-foor-2 Joe Girard’s normally starts. Wiggins can shoot, dribble and play defense and there has been a clear hype around Wiggins taking that next step this season. The step may have come earlier than expected as Jack Clark has gone down with injury and Wiggins minutes have jumped from the teens to 30. Two games ago against Pittsburgh Wiggins tied a career best with 12 points in his fourth start of the season and then on Wednesday he had a huge second half and led the Tigers with 15 points in a rivalry win over South Carolina. He shot 5-of-8 from the field and 3-of-5 from beyond the arc, including back-to-back three pointers late that gave the Tigers the push that they needed. As long as he continues to start, Chauncey Wiggins is the best source of salary relief at forward today.

Other CBB DFS Forward Value

Da’Sean Nelson, DePaul ($5.8K DK) 

Jaylen Thomas, Butler ($5.6K DK) 

De’Ante Green, Florida State ($5.0K DK) 

JJ Traynor, Louisville ($5.1K DK) 

Mason Gillis, Purdue ($4.1K DK/4.1K FD)

 

DRAFTKINGS CORE

Zach Edey - Purdue

Keon Kennedy - California

Zakai Zeigler - Tennessee

Jamir Watkins - Florida State

 

FANDUEL CORE

Zach Edey - Purdue

Chase Hunter - Clemson

Zakai Zeigler - Tennessee