Friday's DraftKings slate is a single game, MICH @ UCONN, played with a captain slot that scores 1.5x points at 1.5x salary under a $50,000 cap. Lineups lock at 8:00 p.m. ET (5:00 p.m. PT).
Our model's top-ranked play is Elliot Cadeau of MICH at $9,200, with a ceiling of 63.0 against a DraftKings average of 24.5. That ceiling is the highest on the board, and it explains why he shows up at the captain spot in our lineup. Silas Demary Jr. of UCONN costs $10,400 and carries a 50.2 ceiling off a 27.8 average. Moustapha Thiam of MICH is $9,600 with a 49.1 ceiling and a 27.2 average, though he carries a Q tag on DraftKings. Braylon Mullins of UCONN rounds out the premium group at $8,800, with a 40.2 ceiling and a 22.3 average.
The value is where this slate gets interesting. Kenny Noland of MICH is only $2,400 but has a 57.4 ceiling and a 30.5 average, a salary-to-output gap that few players on the board can match. Nils Machowski of UCONN is $2,800 with a 57.8 ceiling and a 31.4 average. Na'jai Hines of UCONN costs just $1,000 and still carries a 39.6 ceiling off a 19.2 average, which is useful for squeezing in extra salary elsewhere. Roddy Gayle Jr. of MICH, at $5,400, has a 31.4 ceiling and a 15.5 average, a thinner profile than the cheaper options.
Ownership figures aren't available for this slate, so we can't point to where the crowd will land. Keep an eye on the status tags before lock: Joseph Hartman, Brandon McCoy Jr. and Lincoln Cosby of MICH are listed OUT, as is Solo Ball of UCONN.
Our model's top lineup uses $49,600 of the $50,000 cap. It puts Cadeau at captain for $13,800, then adds Demary Jr. at $10,400, Trey McKenney at $7,800, Noland at $2,400, Mullins at $8,800 and J.P. Estrella at $6,400. Noland's price is what makes the rest of that build fit.
Set your lineups before the 8:00 p.m. ET lock.
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