Love Leads CBC Past Grandview at 810 Varsity Showcase

Not often is there a McDonald’s All-American playing in Kansas City. Let alone a North Carolina Basketball Commit. Kansas City has seen their last two McDonald’s All-Americans candidates, Jeremiah Robinson-Earl and Bol Bol, leave before their senior year to play a more prominent national schedule. That wasn’t the case this weekend when Caleb Love, a McDonald’s All-American was in town with his CBC team from St. Louis to face off against the back to back defending Missouri Class 4 State Champions in Grandview. 

The marquee matchup proved to be all the hype it was worth. The gym was packed and the atmosphere was raucous. CBC got out to an early 14-4 lead, but started to play lackadaisical and let Grandview tie the game at 14 before the end of the first. The game wouldn’t remain tied for long as Mikhail Abdul-Hamid ended up hitting three straight corner three’s to strengthen their lead and they never looked back. 

CBC faced off against no less than a day after taking on their rival Chaminade the night before, which could explain some of the lag in the first quarter. Love knew that he needed to calm his teammates down and be a leader so the game wouldn’t slip away from them. 

“Just come with a winning mentality,” said Love about the message heading into the latter half of the back to back. “We’re on a seven game win streak after this game today. We just had to come out with energy. That’s why we turned it up in the second half.” 

Love is the senior leader for the young CBC team, but he also has great teammates including Larry Hughes, Jr., the son of former NBA player Larry Hughes. Love says their chemistry is on 1000, but also had some high praise for his younger teammate. 

“Larry’s one of the best sophomores in the country, I think highly of him. Once he starts to get comfortable with his game he’s going to be real good.”

Love had two of his best games of the season in back to back nights, which he attributes to coming out and playing with that Mamba Mentality, especially after the passing of Kobe on Sunday. “I didn’t know Kobe but it definitely affected me when he died. That just shows how much of an impact he made on me without me even meeting him.”

“Mamba Mentality, that’s what I thought of all week.”

Even in the event of a tragic loss, Love has something to cherish for the rest of his life, and that’s being a McDonald’s All-American. A goal for every high school basketball player growing up, and he’s achieved that goal. “Ever since I knew there was a McDonald’s All-American Game, that’s all I’ve ever wanted to be,” said Love. “That was the main goal for me and I worked my butt off to get it. It’s a blessing.” 

Love has a simple goal heading into the all-star events, and that’s being an elite point guard. Which he also believes will help him prepare for UNC. “I want to show my all-around game. Everyone knows I can score, get my teammates involved, making the right plays, and locking up on defense,” added Love. “Doing every little thing that most kids don’t do.” 

Love will head to Chapel Hill in less than 4 months and begin his college career, but Coach Roy and staff want him to improve on one thing before that time comes, and that’s becoming a leader. “They know I have younger guys on my team, guys who haven’t developed yet but will, so they want me to be that leader for them so I can come in and lead right away for them.”

North Carolina has the #3 ranked recruiting class according to 247sports for the 2020 class, which also includes Walker Kessler, Day’Ron Sharpe, RJ Davis, and Puff Johnson. The 5-man class has high aspirations next year, and they talk about it every day, and that’s win a National Championship. 

Oh, and they also want to beat that team that’s a few miles down the road from them twice next year. It’s something they talk about a lot. 

Whether or not it happens, one thing is for certain, UNC has an incredible playmaker and scorer coming next year. Caleb Love will most certainly enjoy his time at North Carolina, even though it might not be as long as fans hope.