As we enter college basketball conference play on the first full weekend of Saturday of 2023, there is a solid slate on tap for CBB DFS lineups. We have a nice group of conference matchups, top players, and value college basketball DFS picks to consider this afternoon. You can build CBB DFS lineups on DraftKings for the 8-game main slate tipping off at 12pm ET that begins with two Big Ten matchups between Northwestern and Indiana and Iowa and Rutgers. We also have the AAC and Pac-12  action today. If you're looking to play college basketball DFS this season, get full access to our CBB DFS Playbooks and Core Plays with a Fantasy Alarm All-Pro Subscription. Check out all the CBB DFS top picks, lineup strategies, teams to target, and value plays to lock in for tonight's college basketball action. If you have any questions about CBB daily fantasy lineup strategy, ask away in the Fantasy Alarm Discord chat. Now, let's jump into the CBB DFS top plays and lineup picks for Sunday, January 8th.

 

 

 

College Basketball CBB DFS Slate & Betting Odds January 7th:

 

  • 12p ET- Northwestern @ Indiana (-6.5) 133.5 O/U
  • 12p ET Iowa @ Rutgers (-6.5) 141.0 O/U
  • 1p ET Ohio State (-1.5) @ Maryland 141.0 O/U
  • 1p ET Wichita State @ South Florida (-2.00 128.5 O/U
  • 2p ET SMU @ Central Florida (-9.5) 130.0 O/U
  • 3p ET Houston (-9.5) @ Cincinnati 135.0 O/U
  • 5p ET Washington @ Arizona State (-8.5) 135.5 O/U
  • 6p ET Purdue (-5.5) @ Penn State 135.5 O/U

 

College Basketball CBB DFS Top Plays January 8th:

 

CBB DFS Top Guards

 

Craig Porter Jr- Wichita State @ South Florida ($7.7K) 

Porter Jr, the veteran leader of the Shockers. has reminded many of Ja Morant - with his style of play and leadership. The versatile guard is back from injury and just crushed Cincinnati on Thursday night scoring 19 points and grabbing seven rebounds with a few blocks (38 DKFP). He is a stat sheet stuffer - just check out these KenPom numbers- 26.0% assist (168th), 6.0% block (104th) and 3.0% steal (262nd) rates.  With a 30 DK fantasy point floor, Porter Jr will play nearly every minute of the game and is one of the best point-per-dollar plays on today's slate.

 

Zhuric Phelps- SMU @ UCF ($6.7K) 

Phelps, SMU’s leading scorer at 17.5 points per game and 4th in the AAC, was limited to just six points on 2-of-11 shooting in SMU's loss against Houston, one of the top defensive and overall teams in the nation. He was making his full return to the lineup after only playing a few minutes when he sustained a back injury against Tulsa.  You have to give Phelps a lot of credit for returning to play in SMU’s biggest game of the season but he may not have been fully ready. Now, after a few more days of rest, we should see the 6-foot-5 shot-creator back to the norm and he is a “30/30” player - 32.6% usage (4th in the entire nation) and 35.5% shot rate (5th in the nation!). This UCF team is good but when you suck up all of your team's usage and shot rate- you are fully in play- especially at sub-$7K. 

 

Other Top Guards

Top point-per-dollar plays

  • Jalen Pickett- Penn State ($9.7K) Top overall guard and if you can afford him- you play him. Has been 43+ DKFP in 3 of last 4 games- #7 overall in KenPom rankings
  • Darius Johnson- UCF ($7.4K) 4 straight 30+ DKFP before struggling against ECU on Weds- 30.1% Assist rate
  • Marcus Sasser- Houston ($7.5K) So many mid-priced guards to like today- can never go wrong with Sasser- 30 DKFP L5 
  • Jalen Hood-Schifino- Indiana ($7.6K) I will be trying to fit JHS in my main LU; 29-33-27-42 DKFP L4- if not he is the Porter Jr pivot in my Alt
  • Caleb McConnell- Rutgers ($6.8K) This is the Phelps GPP pivot - I'm a huge McConnell fan- 30+ DKFP in 4 of the last 5
  • Paul Mulcahy- Rutgers ($6.9K) Like to play these guards against Iowa (210th- 50.8% FG defense)
  • Boo Buie- Northwestern ($6.6K)

 

CBB DFS Value Guards

 

Noah Williams- Washington @ Arizona State ($5.0K) 

Williams is back healthy- just in time as the Pac-12 season begins. This is a point guard that will play nearly every minute of the game and he is getting stronger each game back after a long layoff. The Huskies had upset on their minds last week against #5 Arizona and Williams was a key part of the game right down to the final seconds. He took 12 shots in the Zona game with four assists and a couple of steals (23 DKFP) and you can only think that he will be even better today against ASU. 

 

 

Other Value Guards

Top point-per-dollar value plays

  • Ithiel Horton- UCF ($5.7K) 25% shot rate
  • Tramon Mark- Houston ($5.8K) 10.3 PPG L5 with 20% usage
  • Tamar Bates- Indiana ($5.4K) 
  • Trey Galloway - Indiana ($4.4K) 
  • Brandon Suggs G/F - UCF ($4.2K)
  • Evan Mahaffey G/F- Penn State ($3.3K) 

 

 

 

 

 

CBB DFS Top Forwards

 

Zach Edey- Purdue @ Penn State ($9.8K) 

The big question to start the season was - could Edey handle a full workload and be the GUY after splitting time with Trevion Williams last season? He’s responded by being one of the best players, if not the best player, in the country. This season, while playing a career-high 30.8 minutes per game, Edey has taken his game to another level, scoring 21.3 points per game and hauling in 13.2 rebounds per game, both best on his team and ninth- and second-best respectively in the country. Edey’s career-high 2.2 blocks per game also make him No. 2 in the nation in that category. The 7-foot-4 junior presents a unique test for any team based on his size alone but Penn State is a SMALL team and a team that is ranked 359th in the nation in offensive rebounding % (18.0% compared to Purdue's #3 39.6%-- Wow!). All lineups today start with Zach Edey.

 

Brice Sensabaugh- Ohio State @ Maryland ($7.1K)

Sensabaugh is a gifted scorer- just a mismatch in every game. Chris Holtmann called him the most gifted freshman he's coached in terms of pure scoring ability and that includes E.J. Liddell. He’s a three-level scorer — shooting 52.8% overall and 46.6% from three-point land. Sensabaugh has scored a ton against lower-level competition but has also played very well against some of the best teams in the country — Purdue (33 DKFP) and North Carolina (38 DKFP). With a near “30/30” stat line- 29.1% usage and 33./1% shot rate- Sensabaugh is 

 

Other Top Forwards

Top point-per-dollar plays

  • Trayce Jackson- Davis - Indiana ($9.9K) 25% usage and 15.9 PPG/8.0 RPG L5
  • Kris Murray- Iowa ($10.2K) Shoots every time he touches the ball- 21.5 PPG/10/7 RPG Double-Double L5
  • Cliff Omoruyi- Rutgers ($8.2K) Also averaging a near Double-Double L5 12.1 PPG/9.6 RPG
  • Keion Brooks - Washington ($7.4K) the best player on Washington- 28% usage
  • Victor Lahkin- Cincinnati ($6.9K) price is still a little too low- if he stays out of FT
  • Filip Rebraca- Iowa ($7.9K) 30+ mins- 16.6 PPG/8.4 RPG L5
  • Braxton Meah- Washington ($6.4K) ASU will give up some boards- had a big game against UCLA last week

 

CBB DFS Value Forwards

 

Jordan Geronimo- Indiana vs. Northwestern ($4.5K) 

Geronimo transitioned his game out to the perimeter in the offseason as the IU staff worked to improve his ball handling and passing skills, along with learning to play wing in Mike Woodson’s system. Now with Race Thompson out Geronimo should see plenty of minutes back inside and is a near-lock at this price. His block rate of 8% is second best on the team and better than a year ago, and his 4.0% steal rate is far above the 1.2 he produced a year ago.  The steal rate is the highest on the team among players who have consistently been in the rotation. Geronimo is also shooting a career-best 68% from 2-point range, mainly because of the way he has improved beating his man with a quick first step. 

 

Felix Okpara- Ohio State @ Maryland ($4.7K) 

With Zed Key out again Okpara is fully in play as a value today. After Key went down with a shoulder sprain against Purdue and the best big man in the country (Zach Edey) the post-playing Okpara stepped up and held his own against Zach Edey in 31 minutes. Okpara, the only Buckeye over 6-foot-7 (he is 6'11") who played in the game spent the entire contest going head-to-head with Edey.  He finished with five points, and five boards with three blocks and a plus-4 on the floor in his career-high 30 minutes. Now he gets a much easier matchup and the theme this year has been- Bigs vs. Maryland. 

 

Other Value Forwards

Top point-per-dollar value plays

  • Keyshawn Bryant- USF ($5.3K) Most volatile player in CBB 
  • Miller Kopp- Indiana ($5.5K) Will see run as Indiana is missing players 
  • Connor McCaffery- Iowa ($5.9K) In play but a tough road matchup
  • Julian Reece- Maryland ($5.6K)
  • Brandon Suggs G/F - UCF ($4.2K) Former starter has been up and down- but a GPP threat
  • Evan Mahaffey G/F- Penn State ($3.3K) Interesting play and a possible cash dart. Is now playing nearly 20 mins- and could easily get 5-6X 

 

DraftKings Core

Craig Porter Jr- Wichita State 

Zach Edey- Purdue

Zhuric Phelps- SMU

Felix Okpara- Ohio State

 

 

 

 

Check out our list of the best, and most trusted sports betting and fantasy sports promo codes from the top legal sites in your state.

Keep the College Basketball DFS winning going! Check out our partners over on PrizePicks, Underdog Fantasy, Monkey Knife Fight & join our Discord!