In the wake our first (and what I have to assume is the first ever) DIII Tennis Daily Fantasy Game, D3AS and I have decided to give all you procrastinators a little last minute advice. If you haven’t yet heard (I don’t know how you could be reading this and have not heard), we have put together a DraftKings like game for Indoors this weekend. We are still accepting submissions and will be until 8am tomorrow (Friday) morning. So if you’re sitting at home trying to pick between two guys who may or may not play this weekend, we’re here to try and help. We don’t want to give away all our secrets, but both D3AS and I will give you a couple of players who we think are overvalued and undervalued for this weekend.
↑↑↑↑↑ BUY BUY BUY ↑↑↑↑↑
D3AS: Mike Roberts (Kenyon) $4,125
While the bloggers are not high on Kenyon in general, Mr. Roberts presents a potentially great value down at $4,125. Most of the guys you are finding in that $4,000 range (11% of your budget) are guys that aren’t projected to be major contributors OR are guys that only can contribute in either singles or doubles. Roberts represents a guy who has shown flashes of talent in the past and is currently projected at #6 singles and #3 doubles. Meanwhile, his teammate Michael Liu (#2 Singles) is priced right below him despite only playing in singles at a higher position. Roberts has the potential to get you the maximum 15 points in the tournament if he wins all his matches, but even if he wins one singles match and doubles matches, you’re getting a quality 7 points out of a guy you paid $4,000 for. I’d normally be pretty wary of a Kenyon player, but the fact of the matter is Roberts plays at the lowest position in the lineup in both singles and doubles. That’s more chances to win! His projected slate is Emory, CMU, and Case, so a good tournament for him probably is 3 doubles wins and a singles win. That’s a solid 9 points right there. I’m a buyer on Roberts with where he is priced right now.
D3AS: Jonathan Kim (Pomona) $7,000
The dude JK not only has a great twitter presence, but he also plays a really solid spot in the Pomona lineup. Why am I buying JK? Because at $7,000, you get to buy a player that could face the weak spots in his opponents lineups. While JK is a great player on his own, he is currently slated to play Kenny Zheng (CMU), Aman Manji (Emory), and Kratky (Wash U), assuming Chicago makes the final (which I don’t assume, but most do). All of those guys have questions at the moment, which makes me feel like Kim might be a nice sleeper at the mid-tier of your lineup. Depending on what you think about Pomona’s chances in the first round, there’s even a scenario where he plays against Zheng, Turlington (Kenyon), and Lambeth (Trinity TX), which makes me lick my chops even more. I love #3 singles guys in this tournament right now if you pick the right one. Kim might be your DraftKings savior.
D3NE: Marko Mandic (Pomona) $4,500
This is similar to D3AS’s Roberts pick, but slightly more expensive with a slightly better chance to win more matches. Mandic must be playing well, because there are about 8 PP guys with the ability to play (and probably win) at the bottom of the Sagehen lineup, and he’s held them off at least this far. That is part of the reason that Mandic’s price is so low, the revolving door. There is always the worry that with a loss, Coach Bickham might spin Mandic out for somebody like Simonides or one of the talented freshmen. That being said, you can’t find a player with the potential to bring in that many fantasy points for this low of a price anywhere in the field. If he’s not subbed out, Mandic will get three chances at #2 dubs and three chances at #6 singles this weekend. First is a date with CMU. Wadwani is a tough out at #6, and that match should be a total grind, but I think PP has the edge at #2 dubs so that’s a start. All of the bloggers think this match is going to be a nailbiter. If PP wins, it’s likely that Mandic will have contributed. If they don’t an appetizing matchup with Kenyon awaits Mandic. He should be a big favorite in both singles and doubles in that match potentially racking up the points. PP’s most likely final matchups are against either Trinity Tx, or Wash U. If the SageHens get the Tigers, Mandic would line up against Niess in a tough but winnable match. If he plays Wash U, Mandic will probably get a tired freshman in Kozlowski or Berman. Either way, Mandic has the potential to bring you a bunch of points for a little price, which is the definition of good value.
D3NE: Chas Mayer (Trinity Tx) $5,500
Mayer did about as well as you’d expect at the Texas ITA, making the quarters before losing to Budd (UT-Tyler #1). He has been injured some through the early part of the Tigers season, but he played in both of Trinity’s matches last weekend and came out with two victories. He should be slotted in at #5 for the Tigers, though there’s a chance he and Niess (#6) might switch spots at some point. His first matchup is by far his toughest, as he gets Kranz/Zhang and D. Liu in his two Chicago matches. After that though, he should be ok pretty much the rest of the way (if Chicgao beats Trinity). He’ll be favored in both his matches against Case, and will play either PP or CMU for the 5th place match. If he gets CMU, he’ll be favored in dubs and probably a toss up against a struggling Kirkov in singles. If he gets PP, the dubs would be a toss up but he’d probably be favored over Malech at #5 singles. Either way, Mayer gives you a real chance for points in just about all of the six matches he plays (the D. Liu singles match as the only exception), which for a $5,500 price is great value. Plus we’re talking about the SCAC Men’s Tennis Player of the Week here. Nuff said.
↓↓↓↓↓ SELL SELL SELL ↓↓↓↓↓
D3AS: Luke Tsai (Chicago) $8,250
Man, this one hurts. Luke Tsai was my #1 pick in the Fantasy Draft and now he’s on my SELL SELL SELL list for Indoors DraftKings. Tsai simply has not played that well this Spring and rumor has it that he may be out of the lineup. Paying top dollar for someone that is this much of a question mark is something I do not want to be doing in DraftKings. Similar players like Johnny Wu, Tyler Kratky, even Graham Maasen offer better deals because they simply have more projected points to gain. Tsai may not even see the court this weekend. If he was playing #6 singles and #2 doubles, this would be on par with his value. But, he’s becoming a question mark here and his price is simply too high.
D3AS: James Fojtasek (Case) $8,125
Sticking in this $8,000 range, I think Fojtasek might be a guy you want to stay away from in Indoors DraftKings. Fojtasek is a high-quality player who has past success at #3 singles, but we have to remember that the kid is a year out of playing a big match at a lower position. Not to mention, Case will be playing against Wash U, Chicago/Trinity, and Kenyon in their three matches, most likely. That means sophomore sensation Johnny Wu, Adam Krull, and Michael Liu as a gauntlet for young James. Fojtasek will be hard-pressed to get two singles wins out of that and will have to make an impact in doubles if he is to be worth his DraftKings price. While he could definitely have success at 3 doubles, to me his highest potential in this format is 9 points (1 Singles win, 3 Doubles wins). You can get 9 points out of much lower priced guys with some more upside. Don’t pay for the possibility of points, pay for the expected value. Some other guys I might take instead of James are Jon Kim (as mentioned above), Kunal Wadwani (playing #6, could get you three singles wins), or even Rob Turlington (def could get 2 singles, 2 doubles) on the right day.
D3NE: Jason Haugen (Wash U) $6,125
Haugen had a fine fall, taking down Paolucci (Kenyon #4) at the ITA before falling in 3-set to Chua (read on) in the 3rd round. Similarly, he paired with Johnny Wu at the ITA and the duo made the 3rd round beating a solid team of Kranz/Li (Chicago) before eventually losing to Krimbill/Stuerke (#1 seed from Case Western). Last year, Jason played #5-6 singles and #2 doubles for almost the entire year, but this year for whatever reason he hasn’t been playing for the Bears. There’s always a chance that he sees some action at Indoors this weekend (that’s where his 2015 started, with a super breaker win over Goodman (Emory #5), but with the rumors about the stellar play of Wash U’s other young guys (Klein, Berman, Kozlowski), I don’t think he’ll get as much playing time as his $6,125 price tag demands. With a tight budget, this weekend is all about value, and Haugen just doesn’t present enough of it.
D3NE: Nicolas Chua (Chicago) $9,325
Look, I’m not denying Chua is a stud. His backhand is probably the best in all the land, and he probably has the best shot of winning the triple crown over the next few years, but for this weekend’s game I just don’t think he’s worth the price. At that price, you have to be basically a max points player (3 singles wins and 3 doubles wins total to 15 points). Chewy has to play Krull/Tyer and Deuel just in his first round alone. If Chicago wins, then he’ll have to go against Wash U and all of their Indoors history. If Chicago loses to Trinity, the team will destroy Case in the 2nd round, but Chua will have to play against Krimbill twice! If the Maroon play for 1st, they will likely play against Emory and the vomiting legend that is Rafe Mosetick. If Chicago plays for 5th, they’ll probably matchup with the loser of the PP/CMU 1st round match. That means either Yasgoor or Alla for Chua, both notoriously tough players especially after two long grueling days. To reiterate, I’m not saying I think Chua and Chicago won’t do well this weekend, I’m just saying I’d rather take a guy with some easier matchups if I’m going to pay that much for a single player.
There you have it, four guys we like at their price and four guys we don’t. Nothing personal fellas, you have to be a damn good player to get your price out of our range. Don’t forget, please use this new knowledge and sign up for our DraftKings style Indoors Fantasy tournament! Just follow the link at the top in the intro to this article, and good luck! This is likely going to be the last article before Indoors starts, T-Minus 12ish hours and counting, and we hope you have enjoyed our #IndoorsWeek coverage. All the writers will be around at different points throughout the weekend whether on Twitter or on the chat function of the live streaming if such a thing exists. Happy Indoors-ing, boys and girls!