FanDuel NCAA Basketball Picks: Xavier vs. Texas 3/19/25

This Wednesday, the NCAA presents FanDuel basketball fans with a matchup featuring the Texas Longhorns and the Xavier Musketeers. Let’s take a look at this game from a DFS perspective.

Before we dive into the Texas Longhorns vs. Xavier Musketeers game let’s review the rules for the FanDuel single game showdown contest.

FanDuel Single Game Contest Rules

Here are the single game contest rules. You have $60,000 to utilize on five players from either team. However, one of those players will be designated as your team MVP. The MVP accumulates 2x times the standard FanDuel fantasy points value.

The remaining four players in your lineup will be the star, pro, and flex plays. The star player will receive 1.5x the standard fantasy points value. The pro player will accumulate 1.2x the standard fantasy points value.

The final two flex positions will receive the standard points value. Having stated that, it is important for you to identify the correct player for your MVP position if you hope to win a FanDuel single game contest.

If you have additional questions regarding the rules for the single game contest, I highly recommend that you check out the FanDuel 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 FanDuel picks for tonight’s Xavier Musketeers vs. Texas Longhorns matchup.

FanDuel NCAA Basketball DFS Picks

MVP-Tre Johnson, Guard, Texas Longhorns $12,000

Tonight’s NCAA First Four matchup between the Xavier Musketeers and the Texas Longhorns promises to be a thrilling contest as both teams vie for a spot in the main tournament bracket. The Texas Longhorns (19-15) enter tonight’s game as slight underdogs. With that said, the Longhorns have shown resilience against tough competition all season. A big reason why that has been the case is talented Texas guard Tre Johnson.

In the 32 games that guard Tre Johnson has played for the Texas Longhorns in the 2024 NCAA regular season, Johnson is averaging a robust 19.8 points, 3.1 rebounds, 1.1 steals and 0.3 blocks a game.

Examining the data just presented more closely, in the 32 games that freshman guard Tre Johnson has played for the Texas Longhorns this season, Johnson has compiled a 42.7% field goal percentage, a 39.2% three-point percentage and an 89.1% free throw percentage.

As I noted in the rules section above, selecting the correct player at the MVP position for a FanDuel 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 DFS contest.

In my view, Tre Johnson is the most likely player to post the most FanDuel points in this evening’s NCAA basketball game. For that specific reason, I am rolling with Texas Longhorns guard Tre Johnson at the MVP position for this one game FanDuel NCAA Showdown contest.

Star-Ryan Conwell, Guard, Xavier Musketeers $11,000

Junior guard Ryan Conwell has certainly been a key contributor to the Xavier Musketeers starting lineup this season.

In the 32 games that guard Ryan Conwell has played for the Xavier Musketeers this season, Conwell is averaging a rather impressive 25.3 FanDuel points a game.

In conclusion, I fully expect Ryan Conwell to continue his outstanding play in tonight’s matchup with the Texas Longhorns.

Additional flex plays I like to perform well in this game (FanDuel price noted): Kadin Shedrick, Forward (Texas Longhorns) $9,000: Zach Freemantle, Forward (Xavier Musketeers) $12,500.