Caleb Love

[pc in NM]

If it actually was an F2 yes he would be out, even though clearly in game you see him get 2 Ts, and they never once said it was an F2.

I'm assuming UofA will get it clarified by Tuesday, but if Love is out then he's out, and we've won without him before.

[Fishclamps]

I sure hope he's right, it would be nice to get an actual Big 12 person out there to clarify

[Alieberman]

Why has there been zero clarification from the Big 12?

And he was certainly not assessed a flagrant 2 at the time

[azgreg]

[azgreg]

[Merkin]

"Words that were said back and forth", Freeman was then talking smack too, and only Freeman lost his cool and used physical force. Yet the punishment is the same?


So Love was giving the 2nd T for not leaving the court, although he certainly is heading that way, yet Freeman gets to stand around?

[Chicat]

Refs are soft as baby shit.

The tech on Jaden Bradley was proof of that long before Love got headbutted.

[azgreg]

Player of the week.

[dmjcat]

[Alieberman]

He probably voted for Freeman

[dmjcat]

He probably voted for Freeman

Hey, that head butt was worth at least 20 points and 10 boards.

[84Cat]

Saw this on twitter and thought maybe IrishCat made it. Seems apt for the BIG12 POTW

[MrKyle]

Saw this on twitter and thought maybe IrishCat made it. Seems apt for the BIG12 POTW

We needed a new one for sure! Always loved seeing the one with CSM and Hurley as a baby

[TheCat]

Clearly Irish would have taken the time to make his hands smaller not his normal size.

[AZCatGirl]

Suck it, Hurley.

[azgreg]

[Alieberman]

Suck it, Hurley.

Come on... let's give Hurley his props.

He has been named a finalist for the 2025 Bobby Knight Douchebag Coach of the Year Award

[Chicat]

Suck it, Hurley.

Come on... let's give Hurley his props.

He has been named a finalist for the 2025 Bobby Knight Douchebag Coach of the Year Award

He also is a finalist for College Basketball’s Most Punchable Face every year, so he’s not without his accolades.

[PHXCATS]

Love is the key to the season as I said a few weeks ago

[Fishclamps]

People have been saying that since the offseason

[Merkin]

Like Tommy Lloyd since day 1.

[dovecanyoncat]

People have been saying that since the offseason

Well, they owe Machina an apology.

[Chicat]

Nobody believed in Caleb Love except Machina. That’s why he got a personal NIL deal when he came back and has been the focus of every broadcast and defense in every game.

Yep, he told all of us what none of us knew as per usual. He is the best of everyone.

[Abrahamarvel]

I will be serious. For teams of Arizona's caliber, the thing matter is March. I don't expect Love to be consistent 4, 5, 6 games in a roll, which is what we need. ie no 2-16 in those games.

[Winger]

I will be serious. For teams of Arizona's caliber, the thing matter is March. I don't expect Love to be consistent 4, 5, 6 games in a roll, which is what we need. ie no 2-16 in those games.

That probably is because you understand the reality of what Love is. He has never had a 6 game roll in his career. Accordingly, it is wise to not expect one.

Is it Love that is most responsible for Arizona’s 11-1 run?

Or is it:

1. The emergence of both Veesaar and Bryant?
2. Bradley settling in and figuring out both what kind of PG he is and that Arizona needs?
3. Lloyd playing ADO and Townsend roughly 8 minutes to start the halves but outside of that relegating them to spot minutes during the other 32 minutes?
4. That Arizona has not played Houston nor Kansas and has only played ISU and TT once?

Love had had a slew of games during this run with < 100 offensive ratings for the record.

Just as he has his entire career.

[TheCat]

We would probably be lost 3-4 of those games without Love. Is this the Veesaar that you called a soft European? Or Bradley who you said wasn't a point guard? We get it. You don't like Love but a lot of us don't understand your need to run him down? You don't like the makeup of the team? Check. You believe in your evaluation skills. Got it. You have disparaged our coach and implied he just realized that ADO is not a great defender or that he has EVER been more than a skilled specialty player. I love Bryant and I think he will be great but he is completely lost at times on defense. Worst game was probably BYU. Luckily offensively one of his best games was against TT.

Love stopped BYU mo time after time. Go watch a replay of the game. Love didn't win that game. It was a team effort. Like ALL of our victories/losses have shown this team is greater than the sum of its parts. Go look at your posts earlier in this thread and tell me you thought we would be 11-1 in conference?

We could lose every game we play because we have little to no margin. Every game is going to be a struggle. We play in a league where BBall really matters.

This site is known for overreactions both positive and negative. In this thread alone we have gone from not making the tourney to a top 4 seed. Neither will likely happen. I see us for a 6-7 seed that no one wants to play and I want to see,win or lose.

If Tommy would have just done some time in the JC ranks we would be better off.

[Merkin]

We would probably be lost 3-4 of those games without Love.

In all fairness, if we didn't have Love come back this season, the Cats would have another elite player, Joson Sanon for example.

However, if the Cats lose Love to injury, then yes, Cats are going to lose a lot of games since the talent level from player 9 on drops tremendously.

[Winger]

The point wasn't to run down Love, who fwiw has been my favorite player in an Arizona uniform the past 2 seasons. It was to show that he isn't singularly responsible for this recent run. And, from there, that Arizona fans looking for a deep NCAA Tournament run should be hoping that this 12-1 record since starting ADO run is partly due to things other than Love. Because: if it's all on Love Arizona isn't getting to where we want to be in late March.

Love is a key to the season. Not the key.

[TheCat]

Well if someone thinks Love has been solely responsible for any wins or loses they are mistaken. I think Tobey has been great in a lot of games. I think V has been really good at times. ADO has his game against a zone. This is truly a team that can't win without the other guys. JB second half carried us in the second half of the BYU game. Carter's shooting at times completely released pressure on others. KJ is probably the best defender at Ariz since Reggie Geary. They all have a role.

This team is flawed in the sense that it has no dominate player. Their logic and decision making can be critically flawed at times (V against UCLA, Love's shoot selection), but they play hard and together and don't point fingers but encourage each other. I have no illusions that this team is on any type of cake walk. We should have lost the ISU game but got lucky. We were not favored against BYU and only 6.5 favorites against ASU. We will not be favored in at least 4 of our remaining games ( a least two away from home). I'm sure there will be failures and I'm sure we will identify a scapegoat. Tommy wont and neither will any other player. That is what a team is.

[AZCatGirl]

[PHXCATS]

Caleb Love haters have been having a really bad fee weeks

[Abrahamarvel]

It has nothing to with love or hate. I can love Love and also be critical of his play.

[Winger]

Well if someone thinks Love has been solely responsible for any wins or loses they are mistaken.

Yeah well Cat that was the fucking point.

Still a ways to go of course but the Cats do have an opportunity Saturday night to put a little distance on 3rd place.

And as much as I believed preseason that the predictions of 5th place for Arizona were a sign of homerism, after our OOC performance, I am of course shocked that this is the case. Amazingly stoked but shocked none the less. And I found it super interesting to read this am that during the Bahamas Lloyd said more than once that he “wasn’t sure if we’re going to be able to put this thing together or not”.

You could almost make the argument that Lloyd caught a Fisch with the injury to Krivas.

Seems like every game since the Bahamas has been a big game, but imo Saturday night’s is another, and I am expecting and looking forward to another legit McKale crowd experience.

[Alieberman]

That thought has crossed my mind about Krivas

I have been more impressed with Henri than I ever have been with Krivas. And I think Krivas can/ will provide a lot when he comes back next year… but Henri has been incredibly valuable

[TheCat]

Mo Krivas was going to be our best player this year. There was no luck in his injury. I would be interested to see if we could revive the ole Ballo to Zeus high low since V can shoot a bit. Our biggest problem will be next year trying to keep our 3 big men and Stephen.

I think 4th is about where we will end up in this league this year. Which is the prediction I saw. Still a lot of basketball.

[Merkin]

If Krivas can come back 100% healthy (I have my doubts, see Bill Walton and lots of other bigs), then I would expect to see Veesaar slide over to the 4 with Townsend out of eligibility and Bryant off to the draft.

[azcat49]

This team benefits from Henri’s mobility and athleticism, something Krivas lacks. Hopefully Mo comes back healthy and like HV, benefits from a redshirt year

Would really like to see Bryant stay for another year to work on other aspects of his game

[CatMG]

This team benefits from Henri’s mobility and athleticism, something Krivas lacks. Hopefully Mo comes back healthy and like HV, benefits from a redshirt year

Would really like to see Bryant stay for another year to work on other aspects of his game

One thing that is becoming quite apparent in the Llyod era is the centers have improved significantly. Koloko to Ballo to Krivas (injury delayed his improvement) and now to Vessar.

[Merkin]

Lots of success at Gonzaga with the bigs. Recent addition, but I am sure Karnowski is helping UA bigs quite a bit as a GA.

[Postmaster]

Is there an assistant coach in charge of bigs?

[Chicat]

I’m coming around to the idea that Love runs himself ragged on the defensive end against great competition and therefore has subpar offensive games.

Or maybe I’m just telling myself that.

[84Cat]

I’m coming around to the idea that Love runs himself ragged on the defensive end against great competition and therefore has subpar offensive games.

Or maybe I’m just telling myself that.

Ryan Hansen was saying this was Love's best defensive that he's seen

[EastCoastCat]

I’m coming around to the idea that Love runs himself ragged on the defensive end against great competition and therefore has subpar offensive games.

Or maybe I’m just telling myself that.

I will go with that too. One things for sure, never a dull moment with that dude.

[Postmaster]

He looses focus because he has too many shoes to choose from.

Haha

[Lando05]

His defense and passing has been great when he hasn't shot well lately. I love his effort this year when his shot isn't falling.

[EastCoastCat]

I think 4th is about where we will end up in this league this year. Which is the prediction I saw. Still a lot of basketball.

4th? You think we will collapse that much given our current 11-1 record? We would probably have to go at least 4-4 in our remaining games with TT going 6-2 and ISU 7-1.

As of this morning, I don’t see it.

[TheCat]

Well I still think we could realistically lose 4 more. Houston, Kansas are going to be very very difficult. ISU and Baylor away from home will be incredibly hard too. 3 0f those 4 are on the road. Baylor playing really well now and ISU over their momentary pause. That is not to mention the resurgence of KSU which Tuesday will be crazy. I think there is a good chance we lose 4 but not sure the other teams schedule. I just care about top 4 to get a bye in the B12 tourney.

Like our team. Like the defense. Worried about road environment. Like our fight.

[IrishAzCat]

Saw this on twitter and thought maybe IrishCat made it. Seems apt for the BIG12 POTW

That was not me - hahahahaha, but here is one I just made: