You Gotta Love Kevin Love

When you first see him you think—can he actually play Pac-10 basketball? Your mind does a quick 180 trying to catch up with your eyes. No, this couldn’t be Kevin Love, UCLA’s freshman sensation.

This is some linebacker or tight end the Bruins salvaged from the football team. Ben Howland must use him as a reserve hatchet man when he needs someone to give a hard foul, but doesn’t want his regulars to commit it.

Don’t let appearances deceive you. This freakish cross between Wes Unseld and Jeremy Shockey is the real deal. Forget the fact that he can’t jump and lumbers down the court like a truck stuck in second gear. This kid can score from anywhere on the court.

Yesterday, Love was named both Pac-10 Player of the Year and Freshman of the Year in a vote by the conference’s coaches. Love has scored in double figures in all 31 of the Bruins games and recorded 19 double-doubles. He averages 17.4 points on 57 percent shooting along with 11 rebounds in one of the toughest conferences in all of college basketball. 

While his stats don’t lie, they don’t tell the whole story either.

Love’s performance ranges somewhere between surprising and spectacular. Not only has he won games for the Bruins, but he has kept them in games they should have lost.

Take Saturday’s game with Cal for instance. Everyone is talking about Josh Shipp’s controversial game-winning shot over the backboard and the non-call on the inbound pass just before that shot. But there would be no controversy had it not been for Love.

With less than 30 seconds left in the game and the Bruins down 80-76, Love took the inbound pass, stopped just beyond the arc, and sank a three-pointer to pull the Bruins to within one point of Cal. He finished with 20 points and 10 rebounds.

It was the Bruins second consecutive comeback win. On Thursday night, they were down by 11-points to Stanford with just five minutes left. With Love’s effort at both ends of the court, 17 points, 10 rebounds and 5 assists, the Bruins were able to tie Stanford and rally to win in overtime.

Whether it was shooting from the perimeter, snaring an offensive rebound and slamming it through the net, or trailing a play and leaping to the rim to tap it in Love kept the Bruins in both games. At the other end, it was his intimidating play in the post, blocking shots and grabbing defensive rebounds that prevented both Stanford and Cal from putting either game out of reach.

If the Bruins new head football coach Rick Neuheisel has a fantasy, it would be Kevin Love walking into his office and opting to play football instead of basketball. Imagine a tight end with the kind of sure hands Love has and the ability to block as evidenced by his work under the boards at both ends of the court.

There might even be a few NFL coaches thinking the same thing. After all, Tony Gonzalez played both football and basketball at Cal. On the other hand, Antonio Gates never played football in college and has blossomed into an All-Pro tight end for the San Diego Chargers.

Of course, that will never happen with Love. His size and engaging play is just too much for NBA coaches and GMs to pass up. 

In fact, I can hear some of those NBA lottery coaches singing right about now, “All you need is Love.  Love, love, love.  Love is all you need.”