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Tournament Tales: Kevin Love

When Kevin Love arrived at UCLA, he was still more famous for being the nephew of a Beach Boy than for being Kevin Love.

All it took was a single season in Westwood to change all that.

After starring at Lake Oswego High School in Oregon as one of the country’s top recruits, Love made the controversial decision to choose UCLA over the University of Oregon – his father’s alma mater. It was not a popular decision among fans of the Quack Attack.

Instead, Love joined one of the most prestigious programs – not just in college hoops, but in all of sports – playing on a Ben Howland-coached squad that included juniors, Darren Collison and Luc Richard Mbah a Moute, as well as sophomore, Russell Westbrook.

That squad proceeded to take the Pac-10 conference championship, win the conference tournament championship and lock up a top seed in the 2008 NCAA Tournament – with the freshman, Love, leading the squad in both scoring (17.5) and rebounding (10.6).

The Bruins demolished Mississippi Valley State in the Tourney opener, 70-29, but ran into some serious resistance against DeAndre Jordan, Donald Sloan and Texas A&M in the second round, squeaking past the Aggies by a deuce. They took care of Western Kentucky in the Sweet 16 and blew out Xavier to reach the Final Four for the third straight season.

But they ran into a red-hot Memphis squad – led by future NBA MVP Derrick Rose and Chris Douglas-Roberts, who scored 53 of Memphis’ 78 points – in the national semis and Love’s tenure at UCLA ended just shy of a National Championship.

In June, Love was drafted with the No. 5 overall pick by the Grizzlies – one selection after his teammate, Russell Westbrook – and traded not long after in a massive deal that sent Love to the Timberwolves in exchange for the Draft’s No. 3 pick, O.J. Mayo.

In today’s version of Tournament Tales, the Cavaliers’ three-time All-Star talks about his memorable season with the storied Southern California program ….

Do you consider yourself an Oregonian or an Angelino?

Kevin Love: Los Angeles is where I spend my offseason now, but my immediate family, and where I spent my formative years growing up, was in Oregon.

So, you know, you see my hats, you see what I claim. I love Portland, Oregon to death. My best friend – or couple best friends that I grew up with – are back there now still. I have a very, very close connection to Portland and the surrounding areas.

How tough was the decision between Oregon and UCLA?

Love: Well, my dad went to U of O. And they were really a great team (when I was being recruited). They had a lot of upper classmen that were really good players. Ernie Kent was the coach. They had a lot of coaches that I knew throughout my junior high school years. And I grew up going to all the games when I was even younger than that and all through high school.

So it was tough for me. But early on, actually I was going to UCLA games as well – and every time they were playing at Mac Court or Oregon State, we’d go watch them play because Jim Harrick was actually my dad’s assistant high school coach. So I always had a strong connection to UCLA.

How angry were Oregon fans when you made your decision?

Love: They took to different lengths than most schools. Guys like the “Pit Crew.” They went a little bit extra, but that’s the way it’s supposed to be when you’re going against a rival school.

I mean, Oregon was one of our rivals and it was a really tough place to play at Mac Court. I played there a lot – our state championships were there. So it was a very, very tough place to play.

And your dad?

Love: Yeah, my dad’s the in Hall of Fame there. So he wasn’t too happy about it.

What drew you to UCLA?

Love: I felt like it was the right place.

The Pac-10 (now the Pac-12) but the Pac-10, at the time, was very strong. I think the conference, particularly when I was there in 2007-08, was probably the best in the country from top to bottom. UCLA had been to two straight Final Fours. And Coach Howland had been really the first, besides Oregon, to recruit me very strong.

I took my first unofficial visit there when I was in eighth grade.

As an eighth-grade kid touring the UCLA campus – it must have blown your mind ….

Love: Yeah, it did. That was the first time I was able to walk around and remember it. You walk in on campus, you see the Bruin bear statue, you see the Bruin Walk, you see all the classes, the athletic facilities, the Wooden Rec Center, the men’s gym. You see Pauley Pavilion. So those are really fun memories for me.

I was, what, 14 going on 15 at the time. That was a special time.

And when you chose UCLA, you were able to get advice from both Coach John Wooden and Bill Walton?

Love: (Meeting) Coach Wooden – that was surreal.

I was able to go to his relatively small place in Encino. He had a porch, but they had cut out all the pillars on the porch so he only had two left. And that’s where they would stack up his mail every day. It would come from all over the world. It was very, very cool.

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And Bill Walton? Were those conversations in his backyard hot tub with the Grateful Dead?

Love: (laughs) Yeah, exactly!!

I remember Ben Howland put me on the phone with Bill Walton and he was talking all about Southern California and the girls and my uncle with the Beach Boys and playing at UCLA and there’s nothing like it.

It was a 30-minute phone call and I remember I didn’t have much input. Because Bill likes to talk.

The UCLA team you joined was loaded. How did you fit in as a freshman?

Love: I mentioned Oregon, because it was a lot like Oregon; we had a number of upper classmen – guys like Darren (Collison) that eventually went on to play in the NBA and Russell Westbrook, who came out of nowhere. I remember seeing him in the men’s gym and saying: ‘OK, this guy’s gonna be a top pick next year.’ And everybody looked at me like: ‘Who the hell is Russell Westbrook?’

So, he made a huge name for himself that summer and came in and played great. But we also had Michael Roll, Lorenzo Mata, Josh Shipp, Alfred Aboya – great college basketball players, some who went on to play overseas as well.

Those are guys that I’ll always remember and we still keep in touch to this day. The relationships you build – and I know it was only a year and seven or eight months – but those will be lifetime memories and relationships that I’ll have.

Is Russell Westbrook much different than he was back then?

Love: Not with me. To me he’s still exactly the same: stubborn as hell, but extremely talented and one of the best dudes I’ve ever met.

The Bruins reached the Final Four almost with ease that year.

Love: Yeah, although we almost lost to (Texas) A&M in the second round.

They had some really good players on that team and they put a scare into us. I think they had us down nine with three, four minutes to go. Darren hits some big shots. Russell had a key defensive stop at the end. And we were able to advance to the Sweet 16.

How tough was the Memphis team you faced in the Final Four?

Love: We felt like if we could slow them down – which was easier said than done – we had a shot. But once they got the lead, they never looked back and just kept pushing it, pushing it and we weren’t able to stop them.

They had (Antonio) Anderson, who was basically a track athlete, who would just sprint out. Dorsey would get it to Rose, Derrick Rose would advance it. I think Rose had a double-double – 25 and 10 or something.

(Chris Douglas-Roberts) had a big game. He had a really big dunk. I forget who it was on. It could have been me. I can’t remember.

Any thought of returning to UCLA for your sophomore season?

Love: It was close. But I knew I was going to be a top 10 pick, and when you’re 19 and you think you can achieve one of your dreams of making the NBA and making a ton of money, it’s tough.

But then you think: ‘Wait, I could return. If Darren comes back, if Russell comes back, if Luc comes back – we could potentially be undefeated. We could win it and do something really special here.’

The Florida guys did it and they actually won it and came back and won it again. So we were kind of looking at that – making three straight Final Fours, winning the whole thing, and then leaving.

But it’s hard to pass (the NBA) up, especially when Russell, who was my roommate, discussing that we could be very high picks and achieve our dream.

Do you still follow the program and were you disappointed they didn’t make the Tourney this year?

Love: Naturally, you always want the team to do better. I don’t know (Steve) Alford that well, but I’ve been to the new facilities, I know they’re getting a new practice facility.

I know Russell donated some money. I’m going to – you heard it here first – give some money back to men’s and women’s basketball program.

So it’s one of those things where you want them to do better. They didn’t make the tournament this year, so you don’t get to talk any (crap) to any of your teammates! So you just hope that next year is going to be different.