Caleb Love has seen plenty of Duke. And there’s the potential for 1 more NCAA meeting

By Canadian Press on March 16, 2025.

Caleb Love has already seen plenty of Duke in a five-year college career, even after transferring across the country from North Carolina to Arizona.

He might not be done, either.

That’s because the 68-team field for the NCAA Tournament includes an intriguing second-week Easter egg: a potential reunion — the 10th such meeting — between the top-seeded Blue Devils and the fifth-year guard with the fourth-seeded Wildcats slotted in the same half of the East Region bracket.

“We’ve overcome so much adversity and hardship, I’m just proud we made it this far,” Love said after Arizona fell to Houston in Saturday’s Big 12 championship game, a day before the field was unveiled. “We will be ready for the postseason and March Madness.”

Sure, Duke (31-3) and Arizona (22-12) must win twice to reach the Sweet 16 and meet up in Newark, New Jersey. But when it comes to March Madness, part of the spring routine is looking ahead and imagining the wild turns that could loom on the road to the Final Four.

Storylines matter. They’re part of the reason the event captivates the nation every year along with the upsets and “One Shining Moment.” And one more Duke-Love reunion, rooted in the angst of the sport’s top rivalry, would qualify as a big one.

The 6-foot-4 guard is 5-4 all-time against Duke, which includes two of UNC’s biggest wins in series history.

First, Love had 22 points in the Tar Heels’ road win that spoiled the final home game of retiring Blue Devils Hall of Fame coach Mike Krzyzewski in March 2022. Then, when the improbable happened a month later and the Tar Heels and Blue Devils had their first-ever NCAA meeting, it was Love who hit the monster late 3-pointer and the clinching free throws in the Final Four on a 28-point night as UNC ended Coach K’s career.

Those were two of four wins Love had against Duke while at UNC before he transferred to play for Tommy Lloyd at Arizona. That move came just in time for Lloyd and Krzyzewski successor Jon Scheyer to start a home-and-home nonconference series between their programs, giving Love an immediate return to the famously hostile Cameron Indoor Stadium in November 2023.

Love — who went on to be the Pac-12 player of the year and an Associated Press All-American — shook off a rough shooting night and hit clinching free throws in another win. And the past wasn’t buried, either; he played that game with the handwritten message “Tar Heel 4L” (for life) on the heel of his shoes.

He finished the night by again getting to emphatically wave good-bye to the heckling-all-night “Cameron Crazies” after his third win in Duke’s famed arena.

“It was very satisfying,” Love said that night, adding of his farewell message: “I just told them good-bye, you know? It’s over with.”

Duke returned the favor by winning at Arizona earlier this year, with Scheyer crediting junior guard Tyrese Proctor for holding Love to a 3-for-13 effort that included going 1 for 9 from 3-point range.

“Love is a big-time player,” Scheyer said that night.

And if things fall right, there could be one fun final chapter to come.

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Aaron Beard, The Associated Press