
Draftkings NCAA Basketball Picks: Duke vs. North Carolina 3/8/25
Draftkings picks for tonight's Duke Blue Devils vs. North Carolina Tar Heels matchup.
Duke vs. North Carolina
March 8, 2025 6:30 pm EDT
The NCAA presents Draftkings basketball fans with an Atlantic Coast Conference matchup featuring the North Carolina Tar Heels and the Duke Blue Devils. Let’s take a look at this game from a DFS perspective.
Before we dive into the North Carolina Tar Heels vs. Duke Blue Devils game let’s review the rules for Draftkings single game showdown contest.
Draftkings Single Game Showdown Contest Rules
You have $50,000 to utilize on five players from either team. However, one of those players will be designated as your team captain. The captain accumulates 1.5 times the standard fantasy points. Additionally, the captain is 1.5 times the standard cost of the flex position.
The remaining four players in your lineup will receive the standard fantasy points. Having stated that, it is highly important for you to identify the correct player for your captain position if you hope to win a large field DFS GPP (guaranteed prize pool) showdown contest.
If you have additional questions regarding the rules for the single game showdown contest, I recommend that you check out the Draftkings website for more details.
*I recommend that all readers review the starting lineups for both teams prior to setting your DFS lineup for this one game slate.
Here are my Draftkings picks for tonight’s Duke vs. North Carolina matchup.
Draftkings NCAA Basketball Showdown Picks
Captain-Cooper Flagg, Guard, Duke Blue Devils $12,000
Talented guard Cooper Flagg has certainly been an essential part of the Duke Blue Devils starting lineup this season. Having stated that, how has the freshman Duke guard performed from a statistical perspective? Let’s review Flagg’s game data from the 2024 NCAA regular season to answer that question.
In the 30 games that guard Cooper Flagg has played for the Duke Blue Devils in the 2024 NCAA regular season, Flagg is averaging a robust 19.6 points, 7.5 rebounds, 4.2 assists, 1.6 steals and 1.2 blocks a game.
Looking at the data just presented more closely, in the 30 games that Cooper Flagg has played for the Duke Blue Devils this season, Flagg has compiled 49.7% field goal percentage, a 38.2% three-point percentage and an 82.8% free throw percentage.
These two teams met earlier this season. Who prevailed? How did Flagg perform in the contest? In the Duke Blue Devils 87-70 win over the North Carolina Tar Heels last month, Duke guard Cooper Flagg certainly played at a high level. More specifically, Flagg amassed 21 points, eight rebounds, seven assists, two blocks and three steals in the Duke Blue Devils victory over the North Carolina Tar Heels.
As I noted in the rules section above, selecting the correct player at the captain position for a Draftkings NCAA showdown lineup is absolutely vital if you hope to win a large field GPP (guaranteed prize pool) DFS contest. Keep that in mind as you construct your lineups for this one game Draftkings slate.
In my view, Duke Blue Devils guard Cooper Flagg is the most likely player to post the most Draftkings points in this NCAA regular season game. For that specific reason, I am backing Duke Blue Devils guard Cooper Flagg at the captain position for this one game Draftkings NCAA Showdown contest.
Flex Plays
RJ Davis, Guard, North Carolina Tar Heels $10,600
Senior guard RJ Davis has been the driving force behind the North Carolina Tar Heels success on the offensive side of the basketball this season.
In the 31 games that guard RJ Davis has played for the North Carolina Tar Heels in the 2024 NCAA regular season, Davis is averaging 17.2 points, 3.6 rebounds, 3.8 assists and 1.1 steals a game.
Additional flex plays I like to perform well in this game (Draftkings price noted): Drake Powell, Forward (North Carolina Tar Heels) $6,000: Tyrese Proctor, Guard (Duke Blue Devils) $7,200.