Caleb Love was the character of the villain coach K and Duke
Coach K’s career has taken a turn for the worse since he announced his retirement plans last July. On Saturday night, the Duke of the Mike Krievsky era ended the last four. A familiar killer from Caleb Love is also featured in UNC’s 81-77 victory over their arch-rival.
This was Duke’s worst loss in the Coach K era, and his ability to keep the kibbutz in his career rapidly increased his ability. Worse than Eric Manner pulling at the top of the key to defeat Duke in the first round of the 2007 NCAA Tournament. C.J., ranked 15th over Duke. Worse than McCallum. Being sent by Mercer practitioners was a kick in the gonads. UNC and Caleb Love came with more sad intentions.
UNC and Duke spent the second half exchanging buckets and leads. Getting a slim one-point lead, Love stopped near the midcourt and had 34 seconds left to dribble on the clock, scanned the floor, turned his defender toward RJ Davis’s hard screen, got up at the top of the key, and slammed the coupe. Grace Love’s dagger let out a blood-curdling scream from the Duke’s phantom, followed by a deaf silence. Each traumatized Duke fan will describe Love’s shots and where they were at their therapist for the next decade.
That fisherman from Channeling Mike Myers, Jason Voorhees or I Know What You Did Last Summer, Love is a slasher who has been holding that dagger for some time now. For Duke, he has spent the last two years saving the most ruthless performances. There are demonic villains in Duke-UNC sciences, but love can be the most interesting.
Two years ago, Love’s obsession with the Duke deepened. His father told Benjamin Hotchman of the St. Louis Post-Dispatch in 2020 that “Caleb’s dream was to be a school duke.” He went on to say, “Coach K came here, we thought it would happen, and then, it didn’t happen.”
The Hills Sophomore Point Guard committed only to UNC during his senior year at Christian Brothers High School, where he was trained by Jason Tatum’s father, Duke, after receiving a commitment from Jeremy Roach.
“Before Jeremy made his commitment, he was just telling me that he wanted me to be a point guard for him, involve my teammates and compete to win the national championship.” Love told SteD Clark of TheDevilsDen.com after Roach committed in May 2019.
According to 247 Sports, Love was the No. 2 point guard in his 2020 class, with Jeremy Roach at number four. The only point guard next to Love was Cad Cunningham. ESPN’s Hoops Recruiting Database ranked Love as its 18th best recruiter, and Roach was ranked 19th. When Roach was offered two years before being enlisted by the Duke and committed a year later, Love chose to do Carolina Blue Dawn.
Coach K is the biggest college hoops recruiter in the last 40 years. However, due to the differences between the Duke’s approach to the end of the storybook and the UNC, popularly known as the historic 8-seed, he rejected the point guard, an indelible distinction in Krzyzewski’s scholarship that would be impossible to come out with Roach’s eight points. 18 percent shooting.
Love’s season-high as a new man came with a victory over Duke. Two of his three highest-scoring games have now come against the Duke. On 6 February 2021, he scored 25 points in his first victory against the Duke. He averaged around 10 points per game and was shooting 35 percent from the field to that point. That night he hit 56.3 percent off the field and 4-of-5 shots behind the bow. A month later, he did it again, scoring 18 points off 50 per cent shooting and aiding seven in UNC’s 18-point victory.
The only flaw in Love’s record against Duke is that he scored just eight points during the February 5 defeat in which he made only 3 of 5 attempts and hit 1-5-5 from deep.
He responded by crashing into Coach K’s home finale celebration. Love scored 22, thanks to his accurate 12-for-12 shooting on the free-throw line, but was overshadowed by their complete destruction of the Duke. Love’s 28 points on 11-of-20 shots from the field were more notable, weighing the burden of Armando Bakot’s inner struggles.
No matter what Caleb Love does next from this stage, he is the protagonist for half of the UNC’s Duke-UNC split, and a terrorist in Duke Fandom’s memory.
