Re: NCAA basketball, tornadoes, and March Madness 2008
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Originally Posted by DanaA
Agreed, they probably are better than their teams the last couple of years, but a pale comparison to teams of the past. Ironically, they had a good shot at Kevin Love who grew up a Duke fan, but, at least from what I heard, Coach K gave him a cold shoulder early in his recruitment, which opened him up to other teams, eventually settling on UCLA. If Duke had Love, they'd probably be the favorite. Singler and Love have been long-time friends and know each others' games. With Love on the inside and the three point threat, Duke would be a lot better. Thing is that UCLA's three point shooting has been VERY inconsistent, especially Shipp, who has been pretty horrible of late.
I think if Duke and UCLA meet up, UCLA wins because of their defense.
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There's a lot of stories about Love's recruitment, and no doubt the story has changed over the year(s), maybe even by the involved participants. So take this with a grain of salt (and keep in mind I'm a UCLA alum).
The way I've heard/read it over the years, and I've followed the recruitment closely, was as follows:
The Loves are So-Cal natives. Yes they lived in Oregon when Kevin went to HS. But they're So-Cal natives. Beach Boys, Mike Love, etc. Stan Love has said that he idolized and wanted to play for UCLA when he was young but no offer ever came. He then went on to star for Oregon.
It was Ernie Kent who botched the recruiting for UO. He might have gone there but EK did something to upset or disrespect (wherever perceived or actual it doesn't matter) the Loves, who then opened up his recruiting. Yes Duke and UCLA were among the leaders, and it was widely known that he and Singler were shopping many of the same schools. They both tripped to UCLA and Duke on the same days.
Love was the first to commit, choosing UCLA. He then tried to recruit Kyle, but Papa Singler was a big Duke fan, and ultimately Kyle chose Duke.
A big part of what Kevin said made him commit was having family close by. He has family in So-Cal, none in Durham. I had never heard that Duke was a favorite of Kevin. I had heard that had EK not screwed up in the early going (and Howland's been following Kevin since the 9th grade), they would have been the prohibitive favorite being Stan's alma mater, and close to their Oregon home.
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