2020 Illinois Basketball Recruiting Profile: Caleb Love

The Facts

Caleb Love is a four star, top-40 point guard from St. Louis, Missouri. The 6-foot-3 guard is the highest ranked player in Missouri and attends Christian Brothers College High.

Love has already attracted the attention of the majority of the high major programs in the midwest. He holds offers from Illinois, Mizzou, Indiana, Kansas State, Louisville, Virginia and Texas, among a host of others. His offer list will only continue to grow with a strong summer on the EYBL circuit.

Per Corey Evans, Love has scheduled his first official visit with the defending national champions.

Derek Piper reported that Brad Underwood and Jamall Walker had an in-home visit with Love just a few weeks ago.

The Player

Love is going to be one of the leading scorer’s on a high-major team from the first day he steps on campus. Love already shows the unique ability to create every shot in the bag for himself. Most college teams are lucky to have one or two guys like that in their entire program at any given time.

The St. Louis product is averaging 18 points, 5 assists and 4 rebounds for Brad Beal Elite. He’s shown off a plus handle in the halfcourt and great physical awareness and coordination when finishing at the rim. His tight handle allows him to get separation from his defender at the mid range and three point range when put into isolation or a pick and roll. He has purposeful movement and nice form on his jumpshot and has all the offensive tools to be the go-to-guy in late shot clock or crunch time situations at the next level.

While perhaps classified as more of a score first guard, Love has shown some flashes of pizzaz in transition. He definitely knows how to play fast and stay under control. He knows how and when to deliver a pass to his running wingers and big men regardless of the scenario.

Love has appealing size at the lead guard position and will be ready to carry a scoring load from day one. The combo of his size, handle and quick first step make could make him a lethal scorer wherever he plays his college ball.

The Fit

Just like we said about Adam Miller a few weeks back, the fit would be great. The fact of the matter is scoring lead-guards are going to be great fits just about anywhere.

It’s strange to think about life after Ayo, Trent and Andres — but Feliz will graduate after next year, Ayo will likely leave for the draft and that will leave us with one season left of Trent Frazier. That’s why point guard will be such a focus in the 2020 class, and it’s time to start thinking of a succession plan. And ideally Underwood will bring in more than one point guard. We already saw last year how the smaller, three-PG lineups were some of the best lineups for the Illini.

Love would possess some of the most raw talent on the roster and could take the reigns from day one. From the limited tape I have watched I think he is going to be a great transition playmaker, which fits greatly into Underwood’s offense, and is something Illinois will desperately need once Ayo departs. And while I think he is incredibly dangerous with the ball in his hands, he also has the skillset and athleticism to be a dangerous cog as a shooter and a cutter in the base spread offense.

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