'Everything lined up': Caleb Love gives UA basketball tourney experience, perimeter scoring

Clutching a dry erase board and EXPO marker, Caleb Love reversed roles for an afternoon: He was a head coach.

Love, Arizona’s incoming transfer combo guard from North Carolina, was an honorary coach last weekend at the Tucson Summer Pro League, a weekend summer league for middle school-aged local basketball players founded and organized by ex-Wildcat Corey Williams. The league has boys and girls divisions.

“Anytime you rub shoulders with an athlete that’s playing at the level you want to get to, especially a guy playing for your hometown team, I think it’s inspirational,” Williams said. “I met key athletes along the way and the first thing you do is imagine being them, and that imagination drives kids when they’re working out, when they’re tired to wake up early and get shots up. ... It serves as motivation.”

Love coached against fellow transfer and former San Diego State forward Keshad Johnson. Love’s team frittered away a 10-point lead and lost in overtime.

“Similar situations that I’ve been in throughout my career,” Love said, “but it’s just fun seeing these girls compete and have fun.”

Arizona, finally

Coaching youth hoopers in Tucson and spending the summer in the desert heat (yeah, but it’s a dry heat) isn’t how Love initially envisioned his offseason going when he entered the transfer portal in late March.

In fact, Love passed up on Arizona twice, with two different coaching regimes. The St. Louis native and five-star guard signed to play for North Carolina in 2020, a time when the Wildcats’ postseason future hung in the balance amid a federal investigation that later evolved into a NCAA infractions case. Arizona took a self-imposed postseason ban during Love’s first year in college, then fired head coach Sean Miller, replacing him with Tommy Lloyd.

Love said Arizona’s postseason fate “kind of hindered me coming here the first time.”

“It was hectic,” he said. “When I entered the portal this last go-around, it was even more hectic than last time.”

Over his three-year career at North Carolina, the 6-4 Love averaged 14.6 points on 31.7% shooting from 3-point range, 3.3 rebounds, 3.3 assists and 1.0 steals per game. In North Carolina’s run to the national championship in 2022, Love scored 30 points in the Tar Heels’ Sweet 16 victory over UCLA and 28 points against arch rival Duke in the Final Four — Mike Krzyzewski’s last game as head coach of the Blue Devils. However, Love followed up his promising performance by shooting 5 for 24 in the ‘22 national championship.

After averaging a career-high 16.7 points in North Carolina’s disappointing 2022-23 season that began with the Tar Heels as the top-ranked team in college basketball — and ended with UNC missing the NCAA Tournament — Love entered the transfer portal and committed to Michigan to play for Juwan Howard.

Love didn’t have enough transferrable credits to academically transfer to Michigan, putting him back on the market.

“Caleb made the decision to go somewhere else, and we were involved with him early,” Lloyd said. “Nothing wrong happened the first time around, he just had a previous relationship with Michigan and they recruited him out of high school. He went there, and they were unable to work it out academically for whatever reason.

“We got his stuff and he’s a solid student, and the University of Arizona had no problem putting together a plan for him. We were fortunate. Caleb is a proven player, and he’s been great. He’s been a real joy to be around and a great teammate, fun to work with, and we’re going to operate on that plane. We haven’t seen anything different.”

Lloyd said the Wildcats “were unaware and did not get far enough in the recruitment the first time around to get involved with the transcripts and stuff like that.”

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“We got him, and there was nothing shocking or surprising on our end,” he said. “It was a transfer as usual for us.”

Love’s rësumë stands out, though.

“I don’t know how many guys can say they scored 30 in (a Sweet 16) game and then in a Final Four game, 28 points. You obviously have to be a good player to do that,” Lloyd said. “He’s accomplished, he’s been there and done that, but he’s also been on the other side where things have gotten tough.

“We look forward to integrating him into our program and making him a part of our culture and helping him have a great experience. That’s all we’re focused on.”

‘Here for a reason’

When Love was in the transfer portal for a second time this offseason, “everything lined up” for him to join Arizona and reunite with assistant coach Steve Robinson, who recruited Love to UNC.

“We kept in touch even when he left. Coach Robinson is a great coach and a great person,” Love said. “I’m leaning on him to take care of me and things like that. He gave me his word, and I’m just looking forward to it and I can’t wait to see the whole squad together. ... I just felt like with Coach Lloyd and the staff and Arizona as a whole, they have culture. It’s a family, and the system fits me best.”

Although Love is a newbie, he’s the most experienced player in Arizona’s backcourt. Starting point guard Kylan Boswell and Alabama transfer Jaden Bradley are entering their second season in college. So is returner Filip Borovicanin. KJ Lewis and Conrad Martinez are incoming freshmen.

“I’m an experienced guard who played in the national championship game. I’ve been in college for three years, so I know how the game is played and I can help the freshmen coming in,” Love said. “I feel like I can be a leading guard and facilitate, show that I can be efficient and get after it on the defensive side.”

So how will Love fit in? Veteran wing Pelle Larsson is back for another season. With Bradley joining Boswell in the backcourt, Love could conceivably come off the bench. Or Arizona could roll out a “House of Guards” lineup with Boswell, Bradley and Love, plus Larsson — who is a former Pac-12 Sixth Man of the Year and played effectively when he came off the bench in the second half of last season — as a de facto sixth starter.

“It’s all up to Coach Lloyd,” Love said. “Whatever fits the team best, that’s what I’m going to do.”

Lloyd said the 2023-24 Wildcats “don’t have a lot guys with jagged edges.”

“I think we have a lot of pieces, and I think they’ll fit well together,” he said. “I feel really good when I look at our roster and how certain individuals complement each other.

“I think from top to bottom, we’re elite. I feel like there’s no drop-off from one to 13. We can go that deep, and it’s going to be scary when we put it together.

“I didn’t plan any of this, but it’s God’s plan. I’m here for a reason, and I feel like this year is going to be a great year, for sure.”