Draftkings NCAA Basketball Picks: Tar Heels vs. Rebels 3/21/25

Later today, the NCAA presents Draftkings basketball fans with a tournament matchup featuring the North Carolina Tar Heels and the Mississippi Rebels. Let’s take a look at this game from a Draftkings perspective.

Before we dive into the North Carolina Tar Heels vs. Mississippi Rebels 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 afternoon’s North Carolina vs. Mississippi matchup.

Draftkings NCAA Basketball Showdown Picks

Captain-RJ Davis, Guard, North Carolina Tar Heels $11,800

Talented guard RJ Davis has been an outstanding player for the North Carolina Tar Heels this season. Davis is known for his scoring ability, playmaking, and leadership. With that said, how has the senior guard performed from a statistical perspective? Let’s review Davis’s game data from this season to answer that question.

In the 36 games that guard RJ Davis has played for the North Carolina Tar Heels this season, Davis is averaging 17.1 points, 3.5 rebounds, 3.7 assists and 1.1 steals a game.

Looking closer at the data just presented, in the 36 games that guard RJ Davis has played for the North Carolina Tar Heels this season, Davis has compiled a 41.5% field goal percentage, a 36.2% three-point percentage and an 88.2% free throw percentage.

More recently, in the North Carolina Tar Heels dominant 95-68 win over the San Diego State Aztecs three days ago, Tar Heels guard RJ Davis played exceptionally well. More specifically, Davis amassed 26 points, two rebounds and two assists in the Tar Heels victory over the Aztecs.

What did we learn from the data just presented? Clearly, RJ Davis can post a high number of DFS points on any given night. I fully expect that trend to continue in this afternoon’s matchup with the Mississippi Rebels.

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 opinion, RJ Davis presents the best fantasy value of any player on this one game DFS slate. Having stated that, I am rolling with North Carolina guard RJ Davis at the captain position for this one game Draftkings NCAA Showdown contest.

Flex Plays

Sean Pedulla, Guard, Mississippi Rebels $11,400

The Mississippi Rebels enter this afternoon’s NCAA tournament matchup with the North Carolina Tar Heels playing quality basketball. A big reason why the Rebels have been a success this season is talented guard Sean Pedulla.

In the 33 games that guard Sean Pedulla has played for the Mississippi Rebels in the 2024 NCAA regular season, Pedulla is averaging 14.9 points, 3.5 rebounds, 3.6 assists and 1.8 steals a game.

Additional flex plays I like to perform well (Draftkings price noted): Jae’Lyn Withers, Forward (North Carolina Tar Heels) $9,600: Malik Dia, Forward (Mississippi Rebels) $10,000: Jaemyn Brakefield, Forward (Mississippi Rebels) $5,800.