Kevin Love (basketball)

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Kevin Love

College UCLA
Conference Pac-10
Sport Basketball
Position Power Forward/Center
Jersey # 42
Class Freshman
Career 2007 – present
Height 6 ft 10 in (2.08 m)
Weight 260 lb (118 kg)
Nationality USA
Born September 7, 1988 (1988-09-07) (age 19)
Santa Monica, CA
High school Lake Oswego High School,
Lake Oswego, OR
This article is about the college basketball player. For the NASCAR driver, see Kevin Love (NASCAR driver).

Kevin Wesley Love (b. September 7, 1988 in Santa Monica, California), is a former college basketball player for the UCLA Bruins. On April 17, 2008, he announced his intention to leave UCLA and enter the 2008 NBA Draft.[1]

Contents

[edit] Early life

The son of Karen Love and 1970s NBA forward Stan Love, Kevin Love was born in Santa Monica, California in 1988, and moved with his family to Oregon at an early age.[2][3]

[edit] High school career

He attended Lake Oswego High School in Lake Oswego, Oregon, where he was ranked as one of the top players in the nation from the class of 2007.[4] As a sophomore, he led Lake Oswego to the 2005 Oregon state high school basketball championship game, but the team lost to Jesuit High School 57-53.[5] That summer, Love was the center of controversy when Nike removed him from its Portland Elite Legends AAU team because he had chosen to participate in the Reebok ABCD Camp against other top recruits such as Greg Oden.[6] Love went on to play for the Southern California All-Stars, who compiled an unprecedented 45-0 record with Love, who garnered 4 MVP awards along the way.

In 2006, Love and the Lakers returned to the Oregon state championship, winning 59-57 over South Medford and fellow star recruit Kyle Singler.[5] The two teams met again for the 2007 championship, but this time, Singler and South Medford defeated Lake Oswego 58-54.[7] In that game, Love had 37 points and 15 rebounds, and finished his high school career as the all-time leading scorer in Oregon boys' basketball history with 2,628 points, despite missing half his sophomore season. The previous career scoring record had stood for 50 years.[7] Earlier that year in a game against Putnam High School, Love shattered the backboard on a breakaway dunk.[8]

[edit] UCLA

UCLA's Kevin Love on the perimeter at Pac 10 Championship game against Stanford at Staples Center, Los Angeles, 2008. Ben Howland and the UCLA bench looks on from the sideline.
UCLA's Kevin Love on the perimeter at Pac 10 Championship game against Stanford at Staples Center, Los Angeles, 2008. Ben Howland and the UCLA bench looks on from the sideline.

In July 2006, Love verbally committed to play college basketball at UCLA.[9] Love, who has worn number 42 for a majority of his basketball career, received permission from Walt Hazzard to wear the same number with UCLA.[10] UCLA retired Hazzard's number 42 in 1996. Since arriving at UCLA, Love has also regularly sought out retired Bruins coaching legend John Wooden for advice and retired Hall of Fame center Bill Walton.[11]

Love's presence at UCLA has brought animosity from fans of the University of Oregon, his father's alma mater, where it was expected he would play. Prior to a game at Oregon, Duck fans obtained Love's cell phone number and left obscene messages as well as death threats; the fans also subjected Love's family to obscenities and threw garbage at them during the game. This event, along with similar events directed at other players, has prompted a discussion of whether abuse by college basketball fans is becoming too extreme.[12]

At the end of the 2007-2008 regular season, Kevin was named a first-team All-American[13] and Pac-10 freshman of the year and player of the year.[14] He was named to the all Pac-10 team as well as the all Pac-10 freshman team.[14] He helped lead UCLA to the regular season Pacific 10 conference championship, as well as the conference tournament championship and a #1 seed in the 2008 NCAA Men's Division I Basketball Tournament.[14]

At an April 17, 2008 press conference, Love announced that he will leave UCLA after one year to enter the 2008 NBA Draft.[1]

[edit] Personal

Kevin's father Stan is the brother of Beach Boys' singer Mike Love, and the first cousin of the Beach Boys' Brian Wilson, the late Carl Wilson, and the late Dennis Wilson. His aunt is Kathleen McCartney Hearst, who won the women's Ironman Triathlon in February 1982 and is a member of the U.S. Triathlon Hall of Fame. He has an older brother, Collin, and a younger sister, Emily.[3]

[edit] Awards

[edit] College

  • 2008 State Farm Second Team All-America
  • 2008 Collegeinsider.com National Most Valuable Player of the Year
  • 2008 Collegeinsider.com All-America Team
  • 2008 Associated Press First Team All-America
  • 2008 NCAA tournament West Regional's Most Outstanding Player
  • 2008 Pac-10 Freshman of the Year
  • 2008 Pac-10 Player of the Year
  • 2008 All Pac-10 team
  • 2008 All Pac-10 freshman team
  • 2008 ESPN All-America First Team
  • 2008 Sporting News All-America First Team
  • 2008 Sports Illustrated First Team
  • 2008 USBWA: All America First Team, District IX Player of the Year, as well as being named to the All-District team and nominated for the Oscar Robertson Trophy

[edit] High School

  • 2007 Most Valuable Player Award at the Reebok Invitational
  • 2007 Gatorade National High School Athlete of the Year
  • 2007 Parade Magazine Player of the Year
  • 2007 McDonald's National Prep Player of the Year
  • 2007 Naismith Male Prep Player of the Year
  • 2007 Oregon Player of the Year (tie with Kyle Singler)
  • 2007 Roundball Classic MVP
  • 2007 Les Schwab Tournament All Tournament Team
  • 2006 Les Schwab Tournament All Tournament Team
  • 2006 MVP Kingwood Classic
  • 2006 MVP Las Vegas Easter Classic
  • 2006 MVP Bob Gibbons Memorial Day Classic
  • 2006 MVP Bigtime Las Vegas Bigtime
  • 2006 Reebok ABCD Camp Player of the Week
  • 2006 Oregon Player of the Year
  • 2005 Oregon Player of the Year
  • 2005 Les Schwab Tournament All Tournament Team
  • 2005 Reebok ABCD Player of the Week
  • 2005 MVP, Kingwood Classic
  • 2005 MVP, New Orleans Memorial Day Classic
  • 2004 MVP, Les Schwab Classic
  • 2004 Les Schwab Tournament All Tournament Team
  • No. 1 rated senior by ESPN (Class of 2007)
  • No. 1 rated senior by Bob Gibbons (Class of 2007)
  • No. 1 rated senior by Van Coleman/Hoopmasters (Class of 2007)

[edit] References

  1. ^ a b Kuwada, Robert. "Love headed to the NBA", Orange County Register, 2008-04-17. Retrieved on 2008-04-17. 
  2. ^ Williams, Earl. "Love, Moore honored by Gatorade as best", Long Beach Press-Telegram, July 11, 2007. Retrieved on 2007-07-16. 
  3. ^ a b Player Bio: Kevin Love. UCLABruins.com. Retrieved on 2007-10-03.
  4. ^ See Class of 2007 rankings by Scout.com and Rivals.com.
  5. ^ a b OSAA Boy's Basketball State Champions. Oregon School Activities Association. Retrieved on 2007-04-27.
  6. ^ Winn, Luke. "Love, basketball and business", SI.com, July 18, 2005. Retrieved on 2007-03-20. 
  7. ^ a b Smith, Jeff; Freeman, Joe. "It's Panthers' turn", The Oregonian, March 11, 2007. Retrieved on 2007-03-11. 
  8. ^ Kevin Love breaks backboard at YouTube
  9. ^ Freeman, Joe. "And the winner is...", The Oregonian, July 26, 2006. Retrieved on 2007-01-19. 
  10. ^ Parikh, Sagar. "Hazzard to give up number", The Daily Bruin, April 6, 2006. Retrieved on 2007-02-21. 
  11. ^ Katz, Andy (2007-10-22). Love reaches out to the Wizard for advice, history. ESPN.com. Retrieved on 2007-10-22.
  12. ^ Wahl, Greg. "Over the Top", Sports Illustrated, February 26, 2008. Retrieved on 2008-03-05. 
  13. ^ [1] "UCLA freshman center Kevin Love was named a first-team All-American today by the Associated Press..."
  14. ^ a b c This Week in Pac-10 Men's Basketball. Pacific 10 Conference, March 10, 2008
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