Caleb Wilfinger

Deputy Editor

Caleb is a Deputy Editor at Pickswise who resides in Upper Manhattan and has spent time in Philadelphia and Washington, D.C. He has been handicapping various sports since 2018, including NFL, NCAAF, NBA, NCAAB, MLB and tennis. The futures market is his favorite to target and he has a passion for sharing his plays with the Pickswise community.

Live Picks 3

Live Parlays 0

Weekly News Articles 10

Location

New York

Favorite Sports

Favorite Teams

Greatest Betting Win

One of my favorite sports betting memories was certainly in October of 2022, when I successfully cashed a 5-team Round Robin parlay involving games I had already played as straight bets. It involved Penn State catching 16 at home against Ohio State, along with Notre Dame, UCF, Louisville and Baylor all on the money line as underdogs. The Irish and Cardinals took care of business early by crushing their opponents and Penn State hung tough to cover the inflated number against the Buckeyes. Meanwhile UCF pulled out a thriller against Cincinnati, leaving me only a Baylor victory away from a serious 50U profit. Thankfully, the Bears made quick work of Texas Tech in the second half and I was able to watch the 4th quarter with a smile on my face. This was one of three 5-leg Round Robin parlays I cashed during the 2022 college football campaign, as part of what was a terrific season on the gridiron.

Greatest Achievements

Finished with a win rate of 63% in weekly 2022 NCAAF best bets column, highlighted by an 8-0 run to close out championship week and bowl season 25-8 (76%) YRFI/NRFI run from June through August 2023.

Education

Caleb attended Penn State University, where he covered Penn State football and basketball for 3 years (along with many other sports), getting an up close and personal look at the grind of a full collegiate athletics regular season. His two bachelor's degrees were in Journalism & Political Science, with sports journalism as a primary focus. During his senior year, Caleb began moving away from betting casually and turning into a sharper bettor, including creating systems, compiling data for multiple sports, etc.

Experience

5+ years betting experience 3+ years as a sports handicapper 10+ years as a sports journalist Caleb has been betting legally since 2019 but his history with gambling predates that, as he regularly picked NFL games against the spread throughout his college tenure. In 2021, Caleb started handicapping college football games for Pickswise and turned a profit for the season. After moving into a full-time Deputy Editor role in 2022, Caleb has had plenty of success and winners for the site’s users, most notably in college football, NFL and the MLB YRFI/NRFI market.

Favorite betting market / type

Futures and Point Spreads.

Favorite bookmakers

Caleb's Picks

Point Spread Pick

Kansas +9.5(-110)

Reasoning

Another Saturday slate of college hoops is here, and that means that we have an excellent clash in the Big 12 on our hands. This week, the biggest game on the docket takes place in Tuscon, where the Arizona Wildcats are set to host the Kansas Jayhawks in a rematch of what was one of the best games of the season a few weeks ago. Kansas was able to spring the upset at Allen Fieldhouse in that matchup, despite not having the services of Darryn Peterson for that game. Instead, it was the big man combination of Flory Bidunga controlling the paint and Bryson Tiller knocking down pivotal shots that led the way for an undermanned Jayhawks team at home. Arizona has bounced back nicely since that loss, including a very impressive win at Houston a week ago. Kansas is coming off a victory against that very same Houston team, so the natural line of thinking would be to trust Arizona to exact a bit of revenge at home against a Jayhawks team that is coming off a massive win of their own. However, the number is a bit inflated given the spot and a bit of positive injury news for the Wildcats heading into this game.

Arizona has been without star forward Koa Peat for the last few games due to a leg injury, but the freshman phenom will make his return at home on Saturday. However, Peat was fairly ineffective in that game (6 points on 2-of-11 shooting) and its not a guarantee that he’ll instantly provide a massive boost for the Wildcats offense. It’s worth mentioning that Kansas’ defense is one of the best in the nation and currently sits inside the top 10 in adjusted efficiency over the past month. The Jayhawks even lost the battle on the boards in the previous meeting and were still able to win the game with their defensive intensity and discipline. Kansas is not only a very effective defense at the rim, but Bill Self’s team has been able to defend the basket at a high level without fouling, as the Jayhawks are 8th in free-throw rate allowed since the start of Big 12 play. The concerns for Kansas come on the other side of the ball, seeing as Arizona is a top 10 defense and will certainly be focused on keeping the Jayhawk guards out of the paint. It remains to be seen if Peterson and Melvin Council Jr. will be able to bounce back from their subpar shooting efforts earlier this week, but even if both players struggle in this one (or if Peterson exits the game for any reason), Kansas should be able able to figure enough things out to stay within single digits on the road. I’m expecting more of a defensive battle than what the market projects, and that aligns with backing the underdog in this spot.

Kansas vs Arizona prediction: Kansas +9.5 available at time of publishing. Playable to Kansas +9

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Caleb Wilfinger

Game Totals Pick

Under 143.5(-110)

Reasoning

One of the best games of the weekend comes at the mid-major level, as we’ll see a battle in the WCC between the Gonzaga Bulldogs and Saint Mary’s Gaels to finish out Saturday’s card. These teams are certainly familiar with each other, and most of the country is likely aware that this is the premier rivalry in the conference on a year-to-year basis. Both teams have been in excellent form over the past few weeks as well, with these sides combining to post a 12-0 record since February 7. The Gaels are fresh off a massive win over Santa Clara that essentially stamped their legitimacy as an NCAA Tournament team for yet another season, while the Bulldogs just demolished Portland for a sixth straight victory. This is a series that has been very close in recent years, and one that has quietly become defined by defense. With that in mind, while I do lean toward the visitors completing the regular-season sweep, I’m going to focus on what should be a lower-scoring game than what the market projects.

Both of these teams boat very good defenses (ranked 11th and 25th, respectively, in adjusted efficiency), and that has shown itself to be the case throughout conference play. In fact, Saint Mary’s is 10-7 to the under in WCC play, while Gonzaga is a whopping 13-4 to the under in league games. It’s clear that since it lost star forward Braden Huff to injury over a month ago, Mark Few’s team has really focused on slowing the game down and simply executing better than its opponents late in the shock clock. Graham Ike has obviously been a force in the paint on both ends, but it also can’t be understated that this is the best Gonzaga defense as a unit since at least the 2021-22 team, a group that had Chet Holmgren as its anchor inside. The Bulldogs should be able to control the paint in this matchup, which is part of how they were able to rally from a halftime deficit and dominate the final 20 minutes en route to an 8-point victory in the previous meeting. We know that Saint Mary’s is going to play extremely slow, with the Gaels ranked 282nd in adjusted tempo per KenPom — and that has generally translated into these matchups. A whopping 21 of the last 30 meetings have stayed under the total, so let’s bank on another lower-scoring affair in what is sure to be an excellent matchup on Saturday.

Gonzaga vs St. Mary’s prediction: Under 143.5 available at time of publishing. Playable to 143.

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Caleb Wilfinger

Money Line Pick

Vanderbilt Win(-105)

Reasoning

One of the bigger games in the SEC on Saturday’s slate comes in the form of a rematch between the Vanderbilt Commodores and Kentucky Wildcats in Lexington. Vanderbilt emphatically dispatched the Wildcats in the first meeting between these teams back on January 27, and while the natural inclination is to back Kentucky at home in a revenge spot following that 25-point loss, I’m actually going to go back to the well with the Commodores to sweep the season series on Saturday.

The Wildcats were a team that appeared to be playing much better earlier this month, but — upon further review — they were pretty fortunate to rally from a double-digit deficit to beat Tennessee at home, before dropping games to Georgia, Florida and Auburn in succession. Yes, Kentucky did bounce back with a victory at South Carolina earlier this week, but Mark Pope’s team is not one that matches up well with what Vanderbilt brings to the table. In the previous meeting, we saw that the Commodores owned the glass, dominated in transition and easily outpaced Kentucky from beyond the 3-point arc. While the Wildcats should be able to shoot a bit better at home, this Kentucky offense is still wildly frustrating and clearly suffers from not having enough primary shot creators. The ‘Cats are also susceptible to turning the ball over, which we saw plenty of times in the first meeting. It wouldn’t shock me at all if this mistake-prone Kentucky team struggled with Vanderbilt’s ball-pressure, and the Commodores should be able to turn those mistakes into easy points in transition once again. With Vanderbilt clearly in a much better position from a health perspective compared to a few weeks ago, let’s roll with the Commodores in this one.

Vanderbilt vs Kentucky prediction: Vanderbilt ML (-105) available at time of publishing. Playable to -120.

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Caleb Wilfinger