Caleb Love

[829305]

Has anyone’s stock risen higher this tournament? I mean the kid was a good player, but to those who are first seeing him he must look like a surefire lottery pick. Feel like he was second round material before the tourney. Probable to return. Now, go get that bag, kid. And I doubted him the entire tournament. “He’ll shoot us out of a game,” I said.
Wrong again!

Edit: Listed as pick 33 on nbadraft.net before yesterday’s dick drag.

 

[Ticket2ride06]

 

[WojoRising]

I think last night’s game certainly shot his stock into the stratosphere, but hasn’t he had relatively average numbers prior to the Duke game? He’s absolutely lit up Duke in 4 of our 5 meetings over the last two seasons. Something like 25 ppg on great shooting.

 

[imajericho]

Highest I saw a UNC player before last week was 113th in Brady Manek lol.

 

[coryfly]

Love is an interesting dude. He probably made more floaters last night than all year. He can be awful almost the entire game but in clutch situations he is almost guaranteed to hit whatever shot he takes. He could be 0-20 and will never be scared to take shot number 21. Dude is absolutely fearless.

 

[Villian07]

Hes played super well all tourney imo.

 

[GE Nole]

I think he made boat loads of money the last 6 weeks. I’d take him in the 12-20 range if I was an nba team.

 

[Ticket2ride06]

I think he made boat loads of money the last 6 weeks. I’d take him in the 12-20 range if I was an nba team.

He’s young and shown he’s not afraid of the moment. Really good athlete and shooter who can only improve. Don’t think he will ever be a star, but he’s gonna be a really good player. He’s a better passer than he’s shown as well.

 

[Big_C_KU]

Kid has no fear and no conscience. Hopefully he’s cold tomorrow though. Looking forward to the matchups of Harris on Davis and Agbaji/Braun/Remy on Love. Be interesting to see if Self switches Harris onto Love if Love starts to get going.

 

[Ticket2ride06]

Kid has no fear and no conscience. Hopefully he’s cold tomorrow though. Looking forward to the matchups of Harris on Davis and Agbaji/Braun/Remy on Love. Be interesting to see if Self switches Harris onto Love if Love starts to get going.

Be curious to see if Leaky can slow down Agbaji. The secret to our run of late is Leaky taking out the best player and Love making it really hard for the primary ball handler

 

[coryfly]

Be curious to see if Leaky can slow down Agbaji. The secret to our run of late is Leaky taking out the best player and Love making it really hard for the primary ball handler

Yep. That is the key to UNC having a change. Leaky has to slow him down. You can't stop that dude. He is too good. Leaky has to make hm struggle at least a little though.

Self is a smart dude. He is going to try to get Leaky switched off him I'm sure.

 

[Big_C_KU]

Yep. That is the key to UNC having a change. Leaky has to slow him down. You can't stop that dude. He is too good. Leaky has to make hm struggle at least a little though.

Self is a smart dude. He is going to try to get Leaky switched off him I'm sure.

I wasn’t paying attention to this fact. Does UNC switch 1-5 or 1-4 like 99% of college basketball?

 

[coryfly]

I wasn’t paying attention to this fact. Does UNC switch 1-5 or 1-4 like 99% of college basketball?

They don't consistently do one or the other. They sometimes try and not switch by hedging or showing, sometimes switch 1-5 and at times definitely try to not have Bacot be one of the guys switching. Leaky is pretty good at staying on his guy and fighting through things. Obviously there is some give and take with whatever you choose to do with the high ball screens though.

Other UNC fans can comment and share if they think I'm mistaken though, which is certainly possible. We as fans don't always see what we think we do.

 

[imajericho]

We switch a lot of the time, but we tend to strategically quick switch back if an opportunity presents itself.

 

[Big_C_KU]

We switch a lot of the time, but we tend to strategically quick switch back if an opportunity presents itself.

Yeah that’s different from Kansas who will pretty much stay on the switch unless a switch back presents itself downlow. We only switch 1-4 though so UNC might be able to get some decent looks for Manek over the top of Harris/Remy if they use who ever they’re guarding in the PnR. Not sure how much you use Manek as the screener in PnR.

 

[coryfly]

Yeah that’s different from Kansas who will pretty much stay on the switch unless a switch back presents itself downlow. We only switch 1-4 though so UNC might be able to get some decent looks for Manek over the top of Harris/Remy if they use who ever they’re guarding in the PnR. Not sure how much you use Manek as the screener in PnR.

Some but he works off the ball a ton.

 

[imajericho]

If Manek is screening, he is likely sliding off the screen to the perimeter so if they don't switch or do so poorly he is open for a 3. PnR with Bacot is more middle screen lane action Ala Harden and that other Houston rocket dude.

 

[coryfly]

If Manek is screening, he is likely sliding off the screen to the perimeter so if they don't switch or do so poorly he is open for a 3. PnR with Bacot is more middle screen lane action Ala Harden and that other Houston rocket dude.

Yeah, Bacot is definitely the key guy in the traditional high ball screen. It is one thing they have used more later in the year with a ton of success.

 

[HawksJ]

Yep. That is the key to UNC having a change. Leaky has to slow him down. You can't stop that dude. He is too good. Leaky has to make hm struggle at least a little though.

Self is a smart dude. He is going to try to get Leaky switched off him I'm sure.

Actually, you can stop him.

If the other team is willing to sacrifice their standard team defense to face-guard him, Ochai is willing to act like a decoy and let others take the shots. Fortunately, there are six other guys on the roster who have scored 20+ in a college game.

Some KU fans hate that about him (a lot of them do nothing but shot-watch), but that’s why Bill Self teams are always good.

 

[imajericho]

Actually, you can stop him.

If the other team is willing to sacrifice their standard team defense to face-guard him, Ochai is willing to act like a decoy and let others take the shots. Fortunately, there are six other guys on the roster who have scored 20+ in a college game.

Some KU fans hate that about him (a lot of them do nothing but shot-watch), but that’s why Bill Self teams are always good.

Love and Black regularly face guard.

 

[coryfly]

Kansas is plenty talented enough to beat UNC if Agbaji has a bad game but you have to try and shut someone down with Leaky and he has to be the guy, at least to start out.

 

[HawksJ]

Love and Black regularly face guard.

There’s a reason nobody faceguards all five spots…because there are inevitable trade-offs.

Self is pretty good at exploiting trade-offs.

 

[coryfly]

There are always trade-offs, even for elite defenses, which UNC is not. They have gotten better but they aren't elite. There is no doubt Kansas will be able to do some things they want to do. They are a very good team with a very good coach.

 

[coryfly]

Speaking of Love, his tournament kind of reminds me of one Harrison twin who had all those clutch shots several years ago. They are different players but both seem willing and able to make clutch shots and have done it consistently during a tournament run.

 

[ExitFlagger]

There are always trade-offs, even for elite defenses, which UNC is not. They have gotten better but they aren't elite. There is no doubt Kansas will be able to do some things they want to do. They are a very good team with a very good coach.

If you go by Torvik, UNC's defense has been top 10 in the nation in March/April. Fairly small sample though.

 

[coryfly]

If you go by Torvik, UNC's defense has been top 10 in the nation in March. Fairly small sample though.

They are definitely better. Some of that is Leaky being the best defender in the ACC and some is Love being better on the ball and some is Manek really committing to busting it on that end even if he gets beat and some is Bacot protecting the rim better. As a team they are now a good defensive team at times though. Points in the paint can still be a problem but they are a good defensive team for sure. They play better as a team and better individually.

This KU team is a different animal though IMO.

 

[cwobrien11]

Yep. That is the key to UNC having a change. Leaky has to slow him down. You can't stop that dude. He is too good. Leaky has to make hm struggle at least a little though.

Self is a smart dude. He is going to try to get Leaky switched off him I'm sure.

Agbaji is weird. He can go through long stretches where he’s just cold and not wanting to shoot. Then suddenly he will score 10-12 points in 2 minutes. He can also start off stupid hot and then just disappear. Against Nova he scored 12 points on 4-4 shooting from 3 in the first 8 minutes of the game and then didn’t score again until 2 minutes into the second half.

 

[imajericho]

They are definitely better. Some of that is Leaky being the best defender in the ACC and some is Love being better on the ball and some is Manek really committing to busting it on that end even if he gets beat and some is Bacot protecting the rim better. As a team they are now a good defensive team at times though. Points in the paint can still be a problem but they are a good defensive team for sure. They play better as a team and better individually.

This KU team is a different animal though IMO.

It's mostly Davis and Love not getting blown by every possession like they were at the beginning of the season. Davis very rarely ever gets blown by now. He has gotten really good and stopping the driver.

 

[Big_C_KU]

Agbaji is weird. He can go through long stretches where he’s just cold and not wanting to shoot. Then suddenly he will score 10-12 points in 2 minutes. He can also start off stupid hot and then just disappear. Against Nova he scored 12 points on 4-4 shooting from 3 in the first 8 minutes of the game and then didn’t score again until 2 minutes into the second half.

Self doesn’t run a ton of sets to get shooters looks. Most perimeter shots come off of dribble drives and passes out of the post. Self has a few he’ll run out of a TO but mostly it’s through the action of others and the defense collapsing that we get open looks. So when Agbaji starts off strong from 3 the defense focuses on him and doesn’t leave him. This opens up the post, shots for others, and more importantly driving lanes. KU had to adjust middle of the year to defenses focusing more on Agbaji and face guarding him. Took a few games but they got rolling again offensively with more contributions from Wilson.

 

[imajericho]

If you go by Torvik, UNC's defense has been top 10 in the nation in March/April. Fairly small sample though.

If you go by Torvik, from February 22nd on UNC is 1 and Kansas is 2 in Tempo Free Stats. If you go from March 5th, it flip flops. What you can see is going month from month how UNC continually improved over and over. Hard to argue these aren't the top 2 teams in the nation though at this point.

 

[dukedevilz]

Speaking of Love, his tournament kind of reminds me of one Harrison twin who had all those clutch shots several years ago. They are different players but both seem willing and able to make clutch shots and have done it consistently during a tournament run.

Was just thinking of that comparison the other night, actually. And like Kentucky in 2014, UNC is also an 8 seed.

 

[dukedevilz]

K probably could have landed Caleb Love, too. But, he prioritized Roach over him.

 

[ThePhog08]

75% of the time Love is a 6-20 players. Lets hope we get that Love tomorrow.

 

[829305]

75% of the time Love is a 6-20 players. Lets hope we get that Love tomorrow.

Watching him start 0-4 from downtown and then realizing he needed to just get the rack to get right was something I haven't really seen. Typically he would just keep shooting. He may be a new man entirely. I sure hope so.

 

[ravenman10]

Kansas kills teams by having the best wings in the country. 2-4 nobody can match them. If the other team has a 1 & 5 man we get in trouble. I actually expect it to be Davis and Bacot that carry UNC if they are going to win. Very rarely does Kansas lose the matchups on the wing.

 

[WeAreDePaul]

No one was in on this guy earlier than me. Unfortunately I was a year too early and he sucked for my fantasy team last year. Then I didn't draft him this year cause he sucked so much last year.

 

[Big_C_KU]

No one was in on this guy earlier than me. Unfortunately I was a year too early and he sucked for my fantasy team last year. Then I didn't draft him this year cause he sucked so much last year.

Caleb Love has balls of steal and a tough cover. To take and make the shots he’s made in the tournament is nuts. But for his 2 year career he’s shooting 35% and almost a 1:1 assist to turnover ratio. Wouldn’t go putting him on any fantasy team or on any draft boards yet.

Edit: Not saying that that’s what you’re saying. Just the hype can get too much.

 

[imajericho]

Caleb Love is generally an inefficient scorer that makes up for it by being very clutch in key situations and at the FT line.