College Basketball Picks

Written by: Adam Spencer | Last Updated: April 9, 2024

March Madness is in full swing as we cruise toward the Final Four. That means there are dozens of DFS picks available each game day on your favorite daily fantasy apps.

On this page, we’ll give you our daily college hoops DFS picks, helping you decide which plays to make as you piece together your contests. Bookmark this page and check back frequently to see who you should be playing on apps like Underdog Fantasy, Sleeper Fantasy, Vivid Picks, PrizePicks and more!

Our Favorite College Basketball Picks Today

The 2023-24 college basketball season is over. Monday night saw UConn win its second-straight title on the men’s side, finishing off one of the most-dominant NCAA Tournament runs in history. On the women’s side, South Carolina finished a perfect season by taking down Caitlin Clark’s Iowa squad on Sunday afternoon.

That’s a wrap on the season. Check back here next fall for some more top college basketball DFS picks.

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Introduction

The 2023-24 college basketball season promises to be a good one. There is a ton of parity in the major conference ranks this year. In the initial AP Poll, Kansas took the No. 1 spot, followed by Duke, Purdue, Michigan State and Marquette rounding out the top 5.

Reigning champion UConn takes the No. 6 spot in the initial poll.

There are plenty of good teams around the nation, but are there any elite teams? Heading into the 2023-24 campaign, it doesn’t appear so, but things often change as the year goes on.

The overall state of elite vs. non-elite teams doesn’t matter much to us in the DFS space, though. We just want to know if there are teams we can rely on to put up big-time numbers.

On this page, we’ll take you through some basic strategies for college hoops DFS. We’ll also provide some advanced strategies and caution you against making some basic mistakes. Let’s get started!

Strategies for CBB Picks

1. Pay Attention to Pace of Play

College basketball is a unique game in that the disparity in pace of play is so extreme. For example, per KenPom’s rankings for the 2022-23 season, St. John’s averaged 73.3 possessions per 40 minutes (adjusted for opponent). By that same metric, Virginia checked in at No. 360 in Division I, averaging just 61.5 adjusted possessions per 40 minutes.

So if you pick too many “higher” options in Virginia games, you’re doing yourself a disservice. If a top ACC team comes to Charlottesville to play Tony Bennett’s Cavaliers, there’s value in picking some of that other team’s star players to fall short of their projections.

2. Remember These Are College Kids

Yes, there’s plenty of talent in the college ranks these days, but it’s not the NBA. In the pro ranks, if you don’t get to 100 points, you’re almost guaranteed to lose. In college, if you get to 100 points, you’re almost guaranteed to win. It’s a different game. That might seem obvious, but it’s worth remembering before you submit your DFS contests. Games are shorter, scores are lower, shot clocks are longer, etc.

Advanced Strategies

1. Consider Game Script

Project the game script: Predict how the game will play out and consider how it will impact player production. For example, if you expect a close, high-scoring game, focus on players who can excel in such conditions. If one team has an elite post player and the other team doesn’t have much height, it might be worthwhile to look at that first team’s big man to have a big night.

2. Correlate Your Picks

Do you think one player on a top team will go off and easily exceed his higher/lower points total? Great. Pick that “higher” option and don’t look back. But once you make that pick, consider this: how will that player’s usage impact other guys on his team? If a guard has a big night, will it impact that team’s big men? If a big man gets plenty of opportunities, how does that affect the shot volume of the guards? If 1 team is scoring a bunch, it also stands to reason that the other side will have to let it fly to try to keep pace. Correlating a “higher” option on 1 team with a “higher” option on the other side makes sense in many cases when games involve evenly matched teams.

Common Mistakes

1. Picking too many “higher” options

College basketball games are much different than the pros. Games are generally slower and there aren’t nearly as many points scored. That’s not just because NBA games are 48 minutes and college games are only 40, either. The pace of scoring is often lower in men’s college basketball games than it is in the pro ranks. Thus, you need to be careful if you’re picking 2 or more players from the same team to both hit the “higher” option on points scored. It can certainly happen, yes, but more often than not, that’s going to be a losing strategy for you.

2. Loading up on 1 team too much

Let’s say you think Gonzaga will beat up on Saint Mary’s this year. Well, as mentioned earlier in this piece, Saint Mary’s plays at a slower pace than most teams in the country. So even if you think Gonzaga will win by 30, that score could very well be 70-40. Thus, picking too many Gonzaga players to exceed their points totals is an unwise strategy. Pick 1-2 star players to have big nights, but don’t get carried away backing 1 particular team too much.

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Adam Spencer

A 2012 graduate of the University of Missouri, Adam now covers all 14 SEC football teams. He is the news editor at Saturday Down South and across all Saturday Football brands.

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Other Conferences: Big Ten | ACC | Pac-12