After he decommitted from Michigan because he didn’t have “the subsequent credits to transfer in”, UNC transfer, Caleb Love, recently announced that he would be moving to the West Coast to enroll at Arizona. Love, who is a 6’2” guard from Saint Louis, Missouri, has had an up-and-down collegiate career thus far. After a respectable freshman campaign at North Carolina in 2020, the former five-star recruit returned to Chapel Hill for his sophomore season and led the Tar Heels to the National Championship game. To reach that point, Love had to pour in 100 points in five days and deliver a dagger against Duke late in the Final Four. Unfortunately, Love had his worst performance of the NCAA Tournament in the title game, as he notched just 13 points on 5-24 shooting in North Carolina’s crushing 72-69 defeat at the hands of Kansas.
Surprisingly, Love decided to run it back with the Tar Heels this past season in hopes of winning all six NCAA Tournament games in 2022-23. After receiving an absurdly high preseason ranking in October (#1), North Carolina proceeded to finish 20-13 overall, 7th in the ACC and miss out on the Big Dance for the first time since the 2009-10 season (the NCAA Tournament was cancelled in 2019-20). Sure, I suppose it’s fair to say that the Tar Heels failed as a group last year, but Love certainly had a lot to do with UNC’s forgettable 2022-23 season. He struggled mightily with his efficiency and shot selection throughout the year and was too predictable of an offensive player to find consistent success. Now, Love did have his share of highs in year 3, such as starting the year with three consecutive 15+ point performances on at least 40% shooting and dropping 34 points on Alabama’s head in November. However, his lows included back-to-back single digit scoring outputs during conference play (while playing 35 minutes) and an eleven-point, 3-15 shooting display against Virginia to end the season.
So, should Arizona fans be concerned about Love’s fit with the program? Well, I don’t believe so, because he’ll no longer be tasked with jacking up any shot he pleases. You see, jumping from Hubert Davis to Tommy Lloyd will benefit love tremendously this upcoming season. Unlike North Carolina, Arizona has a clear offensive identity that enables them to score the basketball at an extremely high rate. Lloyd encourages his bunch to play fast and outrun their opponents as often as possible, which explains why the Wildcats ranked 6th in points scored per game last year. Love isn’t the greatest half-court operator at the moment, so I’m sure enjoy getting opportunities to use his speed and athleticism to create easy offense in transition/the open floor. Obviously, he’ll still have to prove that he can be effective when he’s forced to slow the game down, but there’s no doubt that he’ll have a great chance to succeed in Lloyd’s up-tempo system in 2023-24.
Courtside With Caleb 
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