Caleb Love brings five-star talent to UA that have led most prognosticators to bump up the Wildcats in the early rankings for 2023-24.

Love him or not, Arizonaโ€™s latest addition has lifted the Wildcats back into the national menโ€™s college basketball conversation.

Several early Top-25 projections for next season, updated last week when the NCAAโ€™s withdrawal deadline for NBA Draft entrants passed and transfer portal calmed down, had Arizona in the Top 15 after the Wildcats added North Carolina transfer guard Caleb Love to a roster that is now full of depth and experience.

ESPN moved Arizona up from No. 23 to No. 11 while the Athleticโ€™s Seth Davis elevated UA from 22 to 15. CBSโ€™ Gary Parrish now has the Wildcats at No. 16, while SI has them at No. 15 and 247 ranks Arizona at 17.

โ€œThe Wildcats saved their biggest splash for last,โ€ wrote ESPNโ€™s Jeff Borzello, โ€œlanding North Carolina transfer Caleb Love, one of the best guards in the portal.โ€

Love finished off the Wildcatsโ€™ six-player recruiting spree this spring, giving them a proven scorer in the backcourt with a wildly varying efficiency. The 6-foot-4 guard from St. Louis starred in the Tar Heelsโ€™ run to the 2022 Final Four but last season became a symbol of their struggles, taking a third of UNCโ€™s 3-point shots (7.4 per game) and hitting them at only a 29.9% rate.

โ€œCaleb Love to Arizona: Howโ€™s that going to work?โ€ blared a headline on SB Nationโ€™s Duke Basketball Report. In the accompanying column, JD King wrote that Love was โ€œvery talentedโ€ but lacked discretion.

โ€œACC fans who got used to watching Love jack up insanely stupid shots from all over the court might wonder: Why would (UA coach) Tommy Lloyd want to take him on?,โ€ King wrote.

Yet, Love is a former five-star recruit and McDonaldโ€™s high school All-American whom On3 rated the No. 3 player in the transfer portal this spring. Additionally, Rivals had him at No. 9, and even CBS rated Love the 17th-best transfer despite expressing doubts of its own.

โ€œOverall, heโ€™s a talented but glaringly inefficient offensive player who will have a chance to put up big numbers in Arizona coach Tommy Lloydโ€™s high-octane offensive system,โ€ CBSโ€™ David Cobb wrote, noting Loveโ€™s overall 36.0% career shooting from the floor.

CBS also put departing UA transfer Kerr Kriisa 10 spots higher than Love on its transfer portal rankings, while Rivals had Kriisa at No. 4 and Love at No. 9.

Overall, Arizona ranked 14th nationally and second in the Pac-12 in On3โ€™s team transfer portal rankings, which measure a teamโ€™s overall improvement or lack thereof from portal activity.

That suggests Kriisaโ€™s loss and that of backup wing Adama Bal (Santa Clara) were more than offset by the additions of Love, sophomore guard Jaden Bradley (Alabama) and senior forward Keshad Johnson (San Diego State).

In the player transfer rankings, Bradley was listed at No. 39 by CBS, No. 54 by Rivals and No. 60 by On3. Johnson wasnโ€™t among the 50 transfers CBS ranked, while On3 had him at No. 123.

Former Alabama guard Jaden Bradley, right, will be part of a UA squad in 2023-24 that will enter the year with plenty of depth and experience.

Then thereโ€™s the quieter fact this spring that, while Arizona lost leading scorer Azuolas Tubelis to the NBA Draft pool, the Wildcats gained back guard Pelle Larsson from the draft and pulled in three more freshmen that are unranked because they are European.

Arizona last fall signed four-star Texas guard KJ Lewis and this spring added Spanish guard Conrad Martinez, Lithuanian forward Paulius Murauskas and Lithuanian 7-footer Motiejus Krivas (Murauskasโ€™ expected addition is not official, however.)

Lewis is expected to be a key backcourt reserve while Murauskas could add some much-needed perimeter shooting after hitting 41.0% from 3-point range in Lithuaniaโ€™s senior league last season.

But no newcomer appears more potentially impactful than Love, who led the Tar Heels in scoring last season and could do the same for the Wildcats next season.

Maybe even in a more efficient fashion, if Love refines his game within the structure of Lloydโ€™s pass-happy, uptempo offense.

Sam Vecenie, an NBA Draft analyst for the Athletic, wrote before Love picked UA that the guard made a good decision to transfer, giving him the ability to find a system that might bring more out of him.

โ€œLove needs to be willing to take a step back, watch some tape and become a more comfortable and confident passer to his teammates,โ€ Vecenie wrote in March. โ€œLove has a real talent for breaking down defenders and separating from them. Instead of only looking to score out of those situations, he needs to also look to make the right play.

โ€œAll of this is to say that Love has a lot of talent but is a maddening basketball player to watch right now. Genuinely, I think there are real NBA skills in his game. Hopefully, a transfer and a new coaching staff in his ear unlock something for him that clearly wasnโ€™t working anymore at North Carolina.โ€

UConn and Duke are frontrunners to cut down the nets, win next yearโ€™s NCAA Tournament


Become a #ThisIsTucson member! Your contribution helps our team bring you stories that keep you connected to the community. Become a member today.

Contact sports reporter Bruce Pascoe at bpascoe@tucson.com. On Twitter: @brucepascoe