Today was a big day for UCLA basketball. Six feet, 9 inches, to
be exact. In a press conference at Foothill High School in Las
Vegas, power forward Kevin Love out of Lake Oswego, Ore. announced
he would be attending UCLA.
In order to become a Bruin, the No. 2 recruit in the class of
2007 and son of former NBA star Stan Love, turned down Roy Williams
and the University of North Carolina. UNC was his second
choice.
Love, a powerful threat inside the paint, had originally planned
to wait until he took his official visits in the fall to make his
decision, but changed his mind and made the early announcement for
UCLA.
Entering into the UCLA lineup in 2007, Love will likely be the
featured big man on a team that will be no more than two years
removed from a run to the national championship game.
As a center he averaged 29 points per game and nearly 17
rebounds during his junior year at Lake Oswego High School, and was
touted by Tracy Pierson of BruinReportOnline as “UCLA’s
top recruiting target of the Ben Howland era.”
The Bruins snagged the high-profile player after rumors
circulated that the other top recruit, guard O.J. Mayo, would be
heading to USC.
Love will join Fairfax’s Chace Stanback as UCLA’s
2007 recruiting class. Stanback, a guard, committed in April.