Keeping It Heel
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UNC Basketball: Future Tar Heel Caleb Love shows out on Senior Night

By Blake Cockrum

COLUMBUS, OHIO - MARCH 22: Rameses, the North Carolina Tar Heels mascot, is seen as they take on the Iona Gaels during the first half of the game in the first round of the 2019 NCAA Men's Basketball Tournament at Nationwide Arena on March 22, 2019 in Columbus, Ohio. (Photo by Gregory Shamus/Getty Images)
COLUMBUS, OHIO - MARCH 22: Rameses, the North Carolina Tar Heels mascot, is seen as they take on the Iona Gaels during the first half of the game in the first round of the 2019 NCAA Men's Basketball Tournament at Nationwide Arena on March 22, 2019 in Columbus, Ohio. (Photo by Gregory Shamus/Getty Images) /
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Class of 2020 UNC basketball signee Caleb Love put together another special performance for Christian Brothers College High School on Friday night, leading his team to victory over conference foe De Smet Jesuit.

The North Carolina Tar Heels are in the midst of one of their worst seasons in program history, and certainly the worst since Roy Williams returned to Chapel Hill in 2003. They currently sit at just 10-16 overall, with a last-place 3-12 record in the Atlantic Coast Conference.

If they finish the season with a losing record, it’ll be the first time since the 2001-02 campaign in which a Matt Doherty-coached UNC squad went just 8-20, and missed postseason play altogether. It would also be the first time that any of Williams’ teams — at Kansas or North Carolina — have finished the season with a losing record, and just the third time that they’ve failed to win 20 games in a season.

The good news is that regardless of how this season ends, help is on the way. The Tar Heels have the No. 3-ranked recruiting class in the nation for 2020, and there’s excitement abound among the Carolina faithful. With three 5-star players, four McDonald’s All-Americans and a five-man class whose “worst” player ranks just outside the top-50 of the 247Sports Composite, there’s plenty of reason for said excitement.

Among the players that UNC fans are most excited to see in a Tar Heel uniform next season is Caleb Love, the No. 18 overall prospect, and second-ranked point guard in the class. Love, a 6-foot-3, 170-pound senior at Christian Brothers College High School in St. Louis, Missouri, has helped lead his team to a 17-8 record, and a 7-2 mark in conference play. The team’s victory over De Smet Jesuit on Friday night earned them at least a share of the Metro Catholic Conference title. And like so many other times this season, it was the Caleb Love show all over again in St. Louis on Friday night.

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Prior to the game, Love was presented with his McDonald’s All-American jersey, and honored at center court by his family, friends, coaches and fans. Once the game got underway, Love did what he has done so many times over the course of his senior year — score a whole bunch of points and lead his team to victory. He racked up 35 points en route to a 70-63 win, while adding four assists and two steals.

Love is the Tar Heels’ heir apparent at point guard once Cole Anthony leaves for this summer’s NBA Draft. A gifted scorer and facilitator, Love can play either position in the back court — something that’s extremely attractive to a UNC program that’s been short-handed in the back court all season long. And while he’s still a score-first point guard, he’s rounding into a solid passer that can set his teammates up in good position to get buckets. He’s capable of playing in the half court, or leading the Tar Heels’ fast-paced, run-and-gun offense. But if it’s scoring that North Carolina fans want to see from their point guard, Love should be a Carolina favorite in no time.

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The St. Louis native will be back in action on Thursday, February 27 at Vianney High School in an attempt to win the league title outright. Keeping It Heel will continue to follow Caleb Love throughout his spectacular senior season, as well as the rest of the UNC basketball program’s outstanding 2020 recruiting class.

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