Dunkle's Daily CBB Dish 2-27-16

These large Saturday slates are slowly coming to and end, so you have to enjoy them while you can. The struggle you will find yourself in on this slate is who to pay up for. Almost all the DFS "studs" either have poor match-ups or are very high priced on the road. There are value plays everywhere and this will not be a concern of many, but I expect people to go back and forth on who to pay up for. Typically this is supposed to be the easy part and finding value is the difficulty right? Let me be clear, that with every slate, the start to your lineup building process should always be the same. That is, lock in your must plays first and then build around them. I see often that people love their entire team, but the last guy just doesn't make sense to play and then they swap 3-4 guys and now the lineup looks completely different. Lock in your value studs and then fit in your other options around them. Today's slate is all about locking in your value plays and then optioning the top priced guys around them. Below are all my top options for the Saturday early slate.

High-Priced Plays

J.J. Frazier - Guard, Georgia. (FD Price $8,300, DK Price $8,100)

For a few games there Frazier was getting tough to trust, but he had the biggest single half he had all season in the 2nd half vs Auburn. He was literally a fantasy point slot reel in that 2nd half going for about 40 fps. While I don't expect this Frazier to show up again, he was a very safe player for quite some time this year. After this outburst, I expect him to go back to his usual highly productive self. With Saiz back it will be tough to exploit Ole Miss inside, but the Georgia guards should be able to play well. If you don't want to pay up for Frazier, I suggest you play Gaines or Mann who are identically priced. You will want one of these guards in your lineup, as the tempo boost Georgia is getting here will play to their strengths.

Frank Mason - Guard, Kansas. (FD Price $7,700, DK Price $7,600)

This is not exactly a play I expect many to agree with, but being that I'm mostly a cash game player, I'll explain my love for Mason here. As mentioned above, I am finding it difficult to trust most high priced players on either site. Mason rarely ever duds and Mason will not burn you at this price. I wouldn't consider him a GPP play because his upside is somewhat limited, but he is such a safe plan especially on FD. Texas Tech has been playing well above their pay grade recently and this looks to be a big letdown game for them. I expect Kansas to handle business tomorrow and Kansas's studs to show up. Mason performed very well in this game earlier in the year, and there isn't much safer on FD tomorrow for 25+ fps.

Bryant McIntosh - Guard, Northwestern. (FD Price $7,500, DK Price $7,900)

I said on here last time that you play your studs vs. Rutgers. I know I got burned with Mason, as he played more of a sidekick role and also sat the final 12 minutes of the game, but I would play him every time in that spot. In this case, Northwestern gets to join in on the fantasy goodness, and their entire offense runs through McIntosh. He has a great usage rate, along with strong peripherals, and everything should come easy to him in this game. Rutgers doesn't stop anyone, and the only way he doesn't reach value is if he takes a backseat to others here. With that said, I really like Demps as well in this spot, but I feel his price is too close to McIntosh on FD, as McIntosh's has far higher overall upside due to his peripherals. I prefer McIntosh on Fanduel and Demps on DK based on pricing, but I also don't mind pairing these two guards together if you can comfortably fit them in as well.

Mid-Priced Plays

As I mentioned above with Mason, I expect Kansas to bring Texas Tech back to earth in this game. This is also as low as I've seen Ellis's price in quite some time. I bring up all the time how you want to pay for players on the price decline and avoid paying for players climbing the ladder, and this is a real nice price for Ellis here. Texas Tech has been pretty good against bigs as of late, but Ellis is more of a wing type big man, and he should be able produce well here. Comparable players to Ellis have been able to produce well against Tech recently, and Ellis is long overdue for a big game. I do expect Mason and Ellis to perform very well in this one for Kansas to get the win.

Trevor Cooney/Malachi Richardson - Guard, Syracuse (FD Price $6,000/$7,000, DK Price $6,200/$6,300)

I often repeat myself in these articles because, I tend to repeat my DFS actions over and over again. I've said before in these articles that I will play Bond when he is mid 6K range or lower in any home match-up. I caught a break that in his recent home game with Villanova when he was over 7K, so I faded, but after two average road showings, he is back in my price range. Talk about a good match-up here. I'll forgive him for his foul trouble on the road earlier in the year vs. UCF, but he is so much more foul prone on the road. After a few non Jaylen Bond like performances recently, I love him to get back on track against UCF who has a below average front court defensively.

We're going right back to the Northwestern well here with Olah, who is finally getting consistent minutes again. Olah has very high upside in this game and I feel provides a high enough floor to be a play in cash and GPP. Absolutely no one in Rutgers's front court can physically match-up with Olah and as long as he can avoid the foul trouble plague, he should perform very well here. Big men have consistently torched Rutgers all year, and it is hard for me to believe that is going to stop in this game. Olah is getting back to his usual productivity and could be in for a huge game here.

Laimonas Chatkevicius - Forward, South Carolina. (FD Price $5,000, DK Price $4,800)