Draftkings NCAA Basketball Picks: USC vs. Maryland 2/20/25

The NCAA presents Draftkings basketball fans with a regular season matchup featuring the USC Trojans and the Ohio State Buckeyes. Let’s take a look at this game from a DFS perspective.

Before we dive into the USC Trojans vs. Ohio State Buckeyes 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 this tonight’s USC Trojans vs. Ohio State Buckeyes matchup.

Draftkings NCAA College Basketball Picks

Captain-Rodney Rice, Guard, Maryland Terrapins $6,400

Sophomore guard Rodney Rice has certainly been a solid player for the Maryland Terrapins this season. Having stated that, how has the talented young guard performed from a statistical perspective? Let’s review Rodney Rice’s game data from the 2024 NCAA regular season to answer that question.

In the 26 games that guard Rodney Rice has played for the Maryland Terrapins in the 2024 NCAA regular season, Rice is averaging a robust 13.4 points, 2.2 rebounds, 2.1 assists and 0.7 steals a game.

Looking closer at the data just presented, in the 26 games that Rodney Rice has played for the Maryland Terrapins this season, Rice has compiled a 45.5% field goal percentage, a 37.1% three-point percentage and a free throw percentage of 79.7%.

More recently, in the Maryland Terrapins 101-75 win over the Iowa Cornhuskers, Maryland guard Rodney Rice played exceptionally well. Let me be more specific. Rice tallied 18 points, two rebounds, four assists and one steal in the Maryland Terrapins victory over the Iowa Cornhuskers.

Examining the data just presented more closely, in the Maryland Terrapins win over the Iowa Cornhuskers just mentioned, Rodney Rice accumulated 27.8 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 opinion, Rodney Rice presents the best value of any player on this NCAA Basketball DFS slate. For that specific reason, I am backing Maryland Terrapins sophomore guard Rodney Rice at the captain position for this one game Draftkings NCAA Showdown contest.

Flex Plays

Derik Queen, Forward, Maryland Terrapins $11,400

In the 26 games that forward Derik Queen has played for the Maryland Terrapins in the 2024 NCAA regular season, Queen is averaging 16.1 points, 8.8 rebounds, 2.1 assists, 1.1 steals and 1.1 blocks a game.

In conclusion, I fully expect Derik Queen to continue his outstanding play in this evening’s NCAA regular season game.

Additional flex plays I like to perform well in this game (Draftkings price noted): Julian Reese, Forward (Maryland Terrapins) $11,000: Wesley Yates III, Guard (USC Trojans) $10,000: Rashaun Agee, Forward (USC Trojans) $4,600.