The North Carolina Tar Heels got some good news with the announcement that Caleb Love would be returning for his sophomore season. He will not be joining his teammate and fellow freshman Day’Ron Sharpe in the 2021 NBA Draft. Love was a highly touted recruit coming into North Carolina and despite a rocky start, showed the flashes of a great college guard. The hope is he fine-tunes his skill and positions himself for a first-round selection in the 2022 NBA Draft. Roy Williams for the first time in three seasons will not start a freshman point guard to lead his offense.
For those tracking at home:
– Walker Kessler is transferring
– Day’Ron Sharpe is entering the NBA Draft
– Sterling Manley is graduating, leaving UNC, & likely entering the transfer portal
– Caleb Love is coming back to UNC for his sophomore seaon— Ross Martin (@RossMartin_IC) March 27, 2021
The North Carolina system is already hard to learn, especially for Freshmen. North Carolina’s roster makeup was not the ideal setup for an attacking guard like Love and those struggles did show. Love averaged 10.5 points, 2.6 rebounds, and 3.6 assists per game. He paired those with a field goal percentage of 31.6 percent and a three-point percentage of 26.6 percent. Those numbers aren’t likely good enough for Love himself, but he did show flashes of what he’s capable of on the court.
The hope is that with a year under his belt he can better highlight his skillset and improve his draft stock at the same time. North Carolina’s roster will look different next year, but the shakeup isn’t quite settled at the moment. Love will be coming back with the keys to the offense fully in his hands. The Tar Heels will hope that he leads them back to their usual winning ways next year.
