UCLA defeated Oregon last night 80-75, and during Kevin Love’s homecoming, the UCLA center made a strong case for National Player of the Year consideration.

Love scored 26 points, including 2-of-2 from deep, grabbed a freshman-record 18 boards (eight of them offensive), not to mention surviving increasing physical play and hacks let go by the officials as the game grew older.

Forget the boxscore for a moment. Where would UCLA be without Love’s interior presence? We’d be talking a lot more about swingman Josh Shipp’s recent struggles from the field, guard Russell Westbrook’s increasing carelessness or most recent injuries to Luc Richard Mbah a Moute or Lorenzo Mata-Real, both concussions.

Love’s footwork, ability to scrap and claw for offensive rebounds, get fouled, hustle after loose balls, step back from 25 feet, use a shot fake and carry this team on his back put him in elite company - perhaps ahead of Beasley, Gordon and Hansborough.

This entry was posted on Friday, January 25th, 2008 at 7:56 am and is filed under NCAA Basketball. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.