Whoops! Caleb Love Tweets He's For Sure Playing For Michigan, 2 Weeks Later Hits The Transfer Portal Before Ever Playing A Game
This was one of the biggest rumors just waiting to come true in the college basketball world. Now, to be fair to Caleb Love, it's not like he showed up on campus looked around and went 'well this place sucks, I'm out.'
That, uh, doesn't sound like an ideal situation, specifically to recruiting and all that stuff. You're telling me Harbaugh and the football team wouldn't have had Caleb Love on campus or at least have a different reason for the transfer to leak out? Michigan also lost Terrance Shannon last year for the same reason. You gotta be able to get some guys in for 'academic' reasons and credits and all this other shit. You're Michigan! Your goal is to make second weekends and some Final Fours here.
Granted, I don't think Caleb Love is winning you a title or anything, it's just a weird look to lose a guy two seasons in a row because of academic credits. From a strictly basketball standpoint? I do find it interesting - and correct - that going back to UNC isn't on the table. It's better for both sides and weirdly I think Love would have been better off at Michigan without Hunter there. Let Love jack up some shots, get more in a flow of the game instead of trying to play with a ball dominant big like we saw with Bacot/UNC.
I know people are bitching about the transfer portal, but here's the thing. It's helping people talk about the game past the first Monday in April. The diehards, we'll talk about the sport forever but it's basically Tobias Funke screaming there are dozens of us. Us who care about the sport every day. For the majority of people it's tuning in to early matchups and then once football ends. The transfer portal is giving us free agency to a degree. I know people want the player to stay at a school for 4 years, but 1) the whole free COVID year is really fucking that up and 2) the portal is inflated right now because of that and until the two-time waiver really hits. Basically you can't transfer twice without sitting out unless a coach leaves or a waiver of that sort.
I have no idea where Caleb Love goes. Missouri - or at least a program like Missouri - makes sense.