Draftkings NCAA Basketball Picks: Florida vs. Houston 4/7/25
Florida Gators vs. Houston Cougars
April 7, 2025 8:50 pm EDT
This Monday night, the NCAA presents Draftkings basketball fans with a national championship matchup featuring the Florida Gators and the Houston Cougars. Let’s take a look at this game from a DFS perspective.
Before we dive into the Florida Gators vs. Houston Cougars game let’s review the rules for the 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 this evening’s Florida vs. Houston matchup.
Draftkings NCAA Basketball Picks
Captain-Walter Clayton Jr., Florida Gators $11,600
Senior guard Walter Clayton Jr. has been the driving force behind the Florida Gators success on the basketball court this season. Let’s examine Clayton Jr.’s relevant game data from the 2024 NCAA season (including postseason games) to better shed light on my previous statement.
In the 38 games that guard Walter Clayton Jr. has played for the Florida Gators in the 2024 NCAA season, Clayton Jr. is averaging a rather impressive 18.5 points, 3.7 rebounds, 4.1 assists, 1.2 steals and 0.5 blocks a game.
Looking at the data just presented more closely, in the 38 games that guard Walter Clayton Jr. has played for the Gators this season, Clayton Jr. has compiled a 45.1% field goal percentage, a 39.2% three-point percentage and an 87.1% free throw percentage.
More recently, in the Florida Gators 79-73 win over the Auburn Tigers two days ago, Florida guard Walter Clayton Jr. played exceptionally well. Let me be more specific. Clayton Jr. accumulated a massive 34 points, four rebounds and two assists in the Gators victory over the Auburn Tigers.
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.
In my opinion, Walter Clayton Jr. is the most likely player to post the most Draftkings points in tonight’s national championship game. With that said, I am backing Florida Gators guard Walter Clayton Jr. at the captain position for this one game Draftkings NCAA Showdown contest.
Flex Plays
Thomas Haugh, Forward, Florida Gators $10,000
In addition to guard Walter Clayton Jr., forward Thomas Haugh has been a key contributor to the Florida Gators overall team achievements this season.
In the 39 games that Thomas Haugh has played for the Florida Gators in the 2024 NCAA regular season, Haugh is averaging 23.9 Draftkings points a game.
In conclusion, I fully expect Thomas Haugh to continue his outstanding play in tonight’s matchup with the Houston Cougars.
Additional flex plays I like to perform well in this game (Draftkings price noted): L.J. Cryer, Guard (Houston Cougars) $10,200: Milos Uzan, Guard (Houston Cougars) $9,000: Rueben Chinyelu, Forward (Florida Gators) $4,200.
