March Madness asks each and every player: In the most important games you will ever play, who are you? What are you made of when your name and future are on the line? Often, the tournament is an indicator of success at the next level, and the bright lights singularly reveal the deepest psychology of these talented players.
In a 2022 Final Four matchup against Duke, North Carolina’s Caleb Love was clutch in the biggest possible moment. It was Mike ‘Coach K’ Krzyzewski’s final season. The world was watching. With what felt like the universe on the line, Love retrieved Duke’s soul and placed it calmly in his pocket, icing the game with a dagger 3-pointer. Cold.
I couldn’t believe my eyes.
Two days later, in the national championship against Kansas, North Carolina had an opportunity to even the score at 72 points with 4.3 seconds remaining on the clock. The Tar Heels used Love as a decoy on a sideline out-of-bounds play for Brady Manek, who slipped curling around a back screen. The inbounder frantically found Love, who dribbled right, stepped back and confidently airballed a contested 3-pointer for all the marbles. The buzzer sounded; the Jayhawks cut down the net and celebrated.
That fateful night, Love, the hero of North Carolina, shot 5 for 24. The Tar Heels trusted in Love, and they crashed and burned. He could not have been further from his magical march of yesteryear. The next year, Love shot 29.9 % from behind the arc, and the Tar Heels regressed to their mediocre mean. They missed the 2023 NCAA tournament, and Love promptly transferred to Arizona.
Fast-forward to Thursday in a Sweet 16 showdown with the Blue Devils. Love cemented his legend by scoring 35 points on 45.5% shooting from 3-point range against a far superior team. Time and time again, Arizona coach Tommy Lloyd trusted Love to score; giving the ball to him proved to be the best strategy in a game where nothing else worked. He was simply the only player who knew he was built for these moments.
I was pleased to see Love’s growth as a player, or what I assumed to be his growth. It seemed as if Love’s inconsistencies had been ironed out of his game. However, this is a misconception generated by me only watching three of his games in the tournament. Love is still known for being inconsistent, but if you just watch him on television, he appears greater than he actually is when you judge him purely off his peaks in the NCAA tournament, where he performs the best. It can be very hard to argue with the “eye test,” especially when a one-off game contradicts a broader statistical narrative like his. Love is a captivating player, but the proof was all in the pudding of that 2022 Final Four, defined by fantastic peaks and terrible valleys; one game was legendary, the next a memorable stinker.
I think we also need to put aside the analysis and nuance in cases like this and be appreciative of witnessing something unique and special. Love has already succeeded by permanently etching his legend into the history of the sport. I will always remember how it feels to watch Love as a core part of some special March Madness memories. It doesn’t matter if Love missed the game-winning shot against Kansas or if he has been proven to be statistically inconsistent across his entire collegiate career.
The NCAA tournament is about living and dying by the shot and how it feels when magic inevitably happens. Caleb Love harnesses that magic as well as anybody I’ve ever seen.
