Daily Fantasy College Basketball 2015: CBB DraftKings Strategy for March 27

Options start running low as the NCAA tournament continues, but there are still opportunities to be successful in daily fantasy college basketball. 

Thanks to some early upsets, the second day of Sweet 16 action features plenty of lower-seeded teams. However, it's important to look past just the familiar names to really find the top options across the board.

Here is a look at the best and worst fantasy picks to make for Friday's games.

Top Picks

Kevin Pangos, Gonzaga ($7,500)

Otto Greule Jr/Getty Images

Although there were times this year where Kevin Pangos took a backseat in the offense while his teammates picked up the slack, he has stepped up when it counts. In two NCAA tournament games, he has 34 total points and eight assists in wins over North Dakota State and Iowa.

There is no reason he should slow down in the Sweet 16 against UCLA, a team that ranks 258th in the nation at defending the three-point line. The Bruins struggle defensively in the backcourt, which should allow the newly aggressive Pangos to keep racking up the points.

Branden Dawson, Michigan State ($8,200)

Oklahoma is a tough defense to crack, but one weakness for the Sooners on both ends of the court is rebounding. Even though they were able to get the advantage against the undersized Dayton, they are only about average in both offensive and defensive rebounding percentage.

When there are only 16 teams remaining out of 351 Division I teams, average is very bad at this stage.

Branden Dawson has been one of the top rebounders in the nation, bringing down 23.6 percent of all chances on the defensive glass. While he is always a double-double threat, this matchup makes him as safe of an option for this price as anyone.

Sleepers

Quentin Snider, Louisville ($5,000)

Otto Greule Jr/Getty Images

One of the major issues for Louisville down the stretch of the season was a lack of offensive contributors outside of Terry Rozier and Montrezl Harrell. Fortunately for the Cardinals, Quentin Snider has emerged just in time.

Evan Daniels of Scout.com broke down the importance of the freshman guard so far:

In two NCAA tournament games, Snider has tallied 26 points and nine rebounds on 4-of-7 shooting from three-point range against two quality defenses. Louisville will need more production out of the young guard to keep winning, which means more fantasy points for those who draft him.

Abdul-Malik Abu, North Carolina State ($4,600)

North Carolina State has played its way into the Sweet 16 thanks in large part to its talented backcourt of Trevor Lacey, Anthony Barber and Ralston Turner. However, the squad would not have beaten Villanova without Abdul-Malik Abu in the post.

The freshman forward had been quiet for much of the season but stepped up in a big way in the round of 32, totaling 13 points and 12 rebounds in the win. This marked the third game in a row Abu has reached double figures in scoring, an impressive feat considering the frontcourt competition on LSU and Duke.

Louisville features another tough matchup in the post in Montrezl Harrell, but you can expect Abu to rise to the challenge and have another strong day.

Players to Avoid

Jahlil Okafor, Duke ($9,600)

Bob Leverone/Associated Press

After one of the most dominant performances of his college career against San Diego State, Jahlil Okafor could end up being slightly limited against Utah.

The problem will be 7'0" center Jakob Poeltl, who has been one of the best interior defenders in the nation this season. While Okafor has the talent to beat anyone one-on-one, the Austrian star will at least be able to slow him down. 

Also considering how slow of a pace Utah likes to play, it will be extremely difficult for Okafor to live up to his price.

Denzel Valentine ($8,600) 

Although Denzel Valentine has been a great fantasy option throughout the season thanks to his ability to fill up the box score each game, the emergence of Travis Trice should cut into his workload. Trice has been one of the top guards in the nation over the past few weeks and showed what he can do with 23 points against Virginia in the last round. 

Meanwhile, Valentine was limited to just four points on 1-of-6 shooting while dealing with foul trouble for much of the game.

Although the junior is still capable of putting up big numbers, the consistency he showed earlier in the year isn't quite as great now. At this price, you might want to draft someone a bit safer.

Note: All advanced stats courtesy of KenPom.com. All prices courtesy of DraftKings.

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