Kevin Love

From Hoopedia

Kevin Wesley Love (b. September 7, 1988 in Santa Monica, California), is a college basketball player for the UCLA Bruins.

The son of Karen Love and 1970s NBA forward Stan Love, Kevin Love was born in Santa Monica, California in 1988, and moved with his family to Oregon at an early age.

High School

He attended Lake Oswego High School in Lake Oswego, Oregon, where he was ranked as one of the top players in the nation from the class of 2007. As a sophomore, he led Lake Oswego to the 2005 Oregon state high school basketball championship game, but the team lost to Jesuit High School 57-53. That summer, Love was the center of controversy when Nike removed him from its Portland Elite Legends AAU team because he had chosen to participate in the Reebok ABCD Camp against other top recruits such as Greg Oden. Love went on to play for the Southern California All-Stars, who compiled an unprecedented 45-0 record with Love, who garnered 4 MVP awards along the way.

In 2006, Love and the Lakers returned to the Oregon state championship, winning 59-57 over South Medford and fellow star recruit Kyle Singler. The two teams met again for the 2007 championship, but this time, Singler and South Medford defeated Lake Oswego 58-54. In that game, Love had 37 points and 15 rebounds, and finished his high school career as the all-time leading scorer in Oregon boys' basketball history with 2,628 points, despite missing half his sophomore season. The previous career scoring record had stood for 50 years.

UCLA

In July 2006, Love verbally committed to play college basketball at UCLA. Love, who has worn number 42 for his entire basketball career, received permission from Walt Hazzard to wear the same number with UCLA. UCLA retired Hazzard's number 42 in 1996. Since arriving at UCLA, Love has also regularly sought out retired Bruins coaching legend John Wooden for advice.