Draftkings NCAA Basketball Picks: Illinois vs. Duke 2/22/25

The NCAA presents Draftkings basketball fans with a regular season matchup featuring the Illinois Fighting Illini and the Duke Blue Devils. Let’s take a look at this game from a DFS perspective.

Before we dive into the Illinois Fighting Illini 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 tomorrow night’s Illinois vs. Duke matchup.

Draftkings NCAA Basketball Showdown Picks

Captain-Cooper Flagg, Guard, Duke Blue Devils $12,000

Talented guard Cooper Flagg has been an essential part of the Duke Blue Devils this season. With that said, 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 26 games that guard Cooper Flagg has played for the Duke Blue Devils in the 2024 NCAA regular season, Flagg is averaging a rather impressive 19.7 points, 7.7 rebounds, 4.1 assists, 1.6 steals and 1.2 blocks a game.

Looking at the data just presented more closely, in the 26 games that Cooper Flagg has played for the Duke Blue Devils this season, Flagg has compiled 48.6% field goal percentage, a 36.6% three-point percentage and an 81.3% free throw percentage.

More recently, in the Duke Blue Devils 80-62 win over the Virigina Cavaliers four days ago, Blue Devils guard Cooper Flagg certainly played at a high level. More specifically, Flagg amassed 17 points, 14 rebounds, two assists and two steals in the Duke Blue Devils victory over the Virigina Cavaliers.

Looking at the data just presented more closely, in the Duke Blue Devils win over the Cavaliers just mentioned, Cooper Flagg tallied 47.1 Draftkings points.

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

Kon Knueppel, Forward, Duke Blue Devils $8,400

In addition to guard Cooper Flagg, forward Kon Knueppel has been a key contributor to the Duke Blue Devils team achievements this season.

In the 26 games that Kon Knueppel has played for the Duke Blue Devils in the 2024 NCAA regular season, Knueppel is averaging 30.3 Draftkings points a game.

Additional flex plays I like to perform well in this game (Draftkings price noted): Tomislav Ivisic, Forward (Illinois) $9,400: Will Riley, Forward (Illinois) $10,000: Sion James, Guard (Duke) $7,400.