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Throughout the season, The Athletic senior writer Sam Vecenie will interview and watch tape with some of the best prospects across college basketball, Europe, Overtime Elite and the G League. Together, they’ll dive deep into what makes them such an interesting prospect and analyze some of the best parts of their game. Today, Sam chats with North Carolina guard Caleb Love. The conversation has been edited for clarity and length.

It’s not uncommon for five-star recruits to come in and not exactly live up to expectations in their first season. But it’s much less common for them to overcome those struggles, scale those heights and eventually become the player they were supposed to be. Caleb Love is a player who proved himself capable of doing just that during his sophomore season.

The top-ranked point guard in the 2020 recruiting class (depending on how you classify Cade Cunningham), Love had a nightmare first season at North Carolina. Like many freshmen in that class, Love’s college basketball career was impacted by the COVID-19 pandemic. He struggled to start the season, surrounded by a North Carolina roster that didn’t make a lot of sense for his skill set and was loaded with new players. The Tar Heels had four true bigs in Garrison Brooks, Day’Ron Sharpe, Armando Bacot and Walker Kessler, along with no floor spacing and shooting around them, in the last season of Roy Williams’ illustrious career. Players themselves dealt with COVID-19, and just as the team started to get going, game cancellations resulted in them playing just three games from Feb. 6 to Feb. 24. Across the country, there were weird living situations, and players couldn’t get practice time to shoot themselves out of slumps.

Love played his role in North Carolina’s problems too. He shot just 31.6 percent from the field and 26.6 percent from 3. He turned it over three times per game and had a historically inefficient season for the amount of attempts he took. Love doesn’t run from that, though. He knows it was a slog his freshman season.

“The season didn’t go as planned as far as the team success and my success,” Love said. “But I’m here now. I feel like everything happens for a reason. I probably had to go through that to get to where I am today.”

Instead of running to the NBA Draft or transferring like many players do after troubles, Love put his head down and embraced the grind. He worked through his issues and got a chance to get his confidence back in the summer, working out with renowned trainer Drew Hanlen. The shooting came back, as Love averaged 16 points per game and shot 36 percent from 3.

“That’s all I know is work,” Love said. “Since my dad put the ball in my hands, that’s all I came up on. I gotta get in the gym. I gotta get better. For me, I always gotta get better at something. If I’m not great at it, I’m gonna work on it. That’s all I did. I got in the gym, worked on what I had to, and each and every year, I want to work on something I wasn’t good at the year before. That’s what I did, as you saw. The jump in my 3-point shot, I went up 10 percent. That’s what it was. It was just work.”

And Love saved his best for last. In the NCAA Tournament, there was arguably no player better than Love, as he won All-Region honors and All-Tournament honors while averaging 19 points per night. His explosions against UCLA in the Sweet 16 and Duke in the Final Four will be remembered forever by North Carolina fans. But the Tar Heels came up short, and that’s what drove Love back to Chapel Hill. He could have easily taken the momentum and catapulted himself into the NBA Draft Combine to try and earn a spot in the NBA, but he decided he had unfinished business with his teammates.

“The NBA is going to be there,” Love said. “The NBA is going to find you. If they want you, they’re going to find you. Regardless of age or whatever they want to call it. I’ve heard a lot of people saying, ‘Oh, they don’t take juniors,’ or, ‘You had a great NCAA Tournament run, leave, blah, blah, blah.’ But my timing is my timing. And what I wanted to come back for is winning this national championship for North Carolina.”

Here’s my conversation with Love, where we dove deep into some aspects of his game that involve excitement, tremendous skill and room for improvement.

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Terrific shooter who can hit pull-ups and catch-and-shoot attempts

Vecenie: This might be the play that you remember most from last year. This is the shot against Duke.

Love: Oh yeah, for sure.

Vecenie: Thirty-two seconds left. You’re matched up here against Trevor Keels. You’re going to get a ball screen from Leaky Black. And Mark Williams is obviously just a drop big man. That’s who he is. He’s terrific at it. One of the best defenders in the country. But he’s a drop big man (in pick-and-roll). And that’s a problem against you. So what are you reading here?

Love: I had a great screen by Leaky. And knowing that Duke was in drop coverage, I don’t need much space to get it up. So I saw he was in drop coverage, and I had a little bit of space that I needed. And, you know, I shot it, and it went in.

Vecenie: Is it just automatic for you? Is that something where in a huddle (Coach Hubert Davis) is telling you, “If he drops like we think he’s gonna drop, if he’s not playing at the level of the screen, just pull?”

Love: It wasn’t even a huddle; this was off a rebound. So, he told everybody to clear out, and he knew Leaky had Mark on him, and I got the switch. And they switched at that point. And like I said, he dropped, and I got the little bit of space that I needed, and it went up.

Vecenie: This is one where you’re gonna create the shot with just the little inside out, crossover between the legs, stepback. You miss this one. But, Armando (Bacot), obviously, he’s always there. And this (next) one is just absolutely filthy. You go behind the legs here, get into the stepback that way. How have you improved your ability to stay on balance from a variety of different moves to load into your shot?

Love: It’s just in my workouts. I do these same moves in my workouts. That’s a big (thing) me and (basketball trainer) Drew (Hanlen) worked on after my freshman year. Balance and always staying forward with my posture. I’m big on balance. I don’t really need any space. I got him off a little bit, and like I said, it went up.

Vecenie: This is a game where you were obviously particularly hot against UCLA. When you get this contest from Jules Bernard, are you even really seeing it? What is it like when you’re on one of those heaters?

Love: Yeah, I don’t really see the defender. Honestly, I’m in a mode where I’m just locked in, and even on that first 3, I could have taken my time because I had a big on me. With bigs I (try to) take my time with pace, slow-to-fast type of movements. … I could have gotten a better shot than what I got on the first one, but we were down three, and I wanted to tie the game up. Coach was telling me to drive it, but I’m like, Coach, I want the 3 (laughs).

Vecenie: (laughs) You made the right call.

Love: After I hit it, I told Coach, “I got you.”

Vecenie: What has it been like going from Roy Williams to Hubert Davis as a coach?

Love: It was an easy adjustment. I felt like Coach Williams gave me everything he could, as far as being my coach, and I can’t thank him enough. Because he put me through a lot my freshman year, and he taught me a lot as well. He kind of created the blueprint, and me and Coach Davis have always had a relationship since I got there. He used to work me out. It was an easy adjustment. He knew exactly what I wanted as far as my personal goals, and I knew exactly what he wanted for our team goals, so it was an easy adjustment. I can’t thank Coach Davis enough for what he’s done for my confidence. Getting that back to what it was (back) in high school.

Vecenie: What do you think the biggest difference is going from Coach Williams to Coach Davis?

Love: I feel like just the system. It’s kind of the same system. Coach Williams did the two-big system, where they post up and don’t really shoot, but Coach Davis has a four-out, one-in system. He wants a lot of ball screens, more like what the league does. NBA action and stuff like that, so I feel like that’s the biggest difference. But as far as the approach, they’re the same.

Vecenie: This is the one to essentially win the game against the Bruins. UCLA never topped 66 points in this game, so this is the winner for all intents and purposes. … This is high arc, high release point. Take me through this play here.

Love: This is actually a set for us. And the first option in the set is a back screen for Brady (Manek), so instead of the back screen, I’m going to act like I’m setting a back screen. Jules Bernard is waiting for me to set the back screen. That’s why he’s behind. Instead of that, Brady sets the screen for me. And you know, I get the separation that I need. And then once I saw Jaime Jaquez pop out, I took the one dribble to get separation. And then I rose up and made the shot.

Vecenie: The thing that stands out here is your intelligence coming off screens. This is something that is so vital as you’re continuing to play at North Carolina and trying to find open shots, as well as moving up to the next level. Your ability to come off screens for someone who is as lethal as a shooter as you are. When you see this screen, how are you trying to come off it? You can come off it a couple of different ways. You could kind of roll up toward Bacot a little bit, or you could try and flare it out a little bit to try and get away from Jaquez quicker.

Love: I want to stay right behind Brady, like I caught it. The only reason why I took the dribble is because Jaime Jaquez got up out of there, and shout out (to him). The reason why Jules Bernard is behind is because he’s waiting to help on the back screen. If not, he’ll come with me, so that’s why I stopped right behind Brady. And once I saw him pop out, I just needed the one dribble, and I made the shot.

Vecenie: I didn’t even recognize that this is like a counter off (what you guys ran) previously in the game.

Love: Yeah, because they are so used to the actual play, this was actually drawn up. Coach was like, “Don’t set the screen and pop out.” And it was a great play that coach put together.

Vecenie: This is just a simple catch-and-shoot for you from the national title game. I’m curious at what point you’re recognizing here that you’re going to be wide open?

What I’m seeing here is that R.J. (Davis) is going to beat Dajuan Harris to rim, and this should just be a help from David McCormack. But Christian Braun gets a little bit lost here off Leaky Black. He should be guarding him in the corner. It forces an X-out from your man (Ochai) Agbaji. At what point do you recognize that Christian is kind of asleep and doesn’t really know what to do?

Love: When R.J. gets to the block. I see that he’s lost, so I know that that next pass is coming to me after he passed it to Leaky. He doesn’t know where R.J. is passing it. He just jumped. I saw his back turned, and I knew I was going to be open for the shot.

Vecenie: In terms of your balance and your mechanics here, there’s nothing out of place, everything is perfectly in rhythm. How have you tried to make everything so systematic in the way that you go about rising up for that catch-and-shoot jumper? Last year, you hit 44.2 percent of your catch-and-shoot jumpers.

Love: Yeah, just trying to shoot the same way every time. My workout, just making it a habit. My freshman year, if I missed a certain shot, I’d try to mess up my mechanics or change my mechanics up. But just keeping the right base, keeping the right form and shooting the same way every time.

Potential as a finisher

Vecenie: These next ones are going to be what happens when you get inside the 3-point line. These are going to be finishes. Last year, you shot 44 percent at the rim, so definitely an area of improvement for you. But I want to jump through some ones here that are positive and showcase that it’s not that you can’t finish at the rim. It’s about making the right decision to go finish.

Here, you’re going to get the auto switch from Saint Peter’s, and this is KC Ndefo — for people who don’t know, three-time MAAC Defensive Player of the Year, one of the best defensive players in college basketball. This isn’t really a “mismatch.” It is for you, though, because of this first step. You get him rocked to sleep a little bit, then you blow by him. This isn’t the easiest finish. I love here how you cut his angle. Ndefo is one of the best shot blockers in college basketball, and you cut his angle off entirely with that little Euro step.

Love: Yeah, I see nobody is on the weak side, so I use my crossover to make them fall asleep. As I’m crossing over, I go slow to fast. And then I just take off, and I see I got him beat. His teammate comes over to help. And I get just that little space that I needed to cut his angle off, and I Euro step and finish.

Vecenie: That’s a really tough finish. … You have to try and find an angle against a great shot blocker, against a rotating defender, and you get a clean look. That’s where your troubles are more than anything, is when you don’t get a clean look.

This is maybe my favorite one. You’re gonna come off this Brady Manek screen. No switch. You just beat Jules Bernard to the rim. Take me through this.

Love: Yeah, I see he stays with me off the screen, so I’m just using my stop-and-go moves just to get him off rhythm. I easily get past him. He kind of stays with me on this one and I stop. And then I go again. And then I cut an angle off by finishing inside hand.

Vecenie: I love the inside-hand finish. That’s something that Bones Hyland uses well for the Denver Nuggets. I think that that’s a really high level skill for you. And I wanted to talk about your handle here as well. You’ve talked a lot about going slow-to-fast. What are you reading here? What are you trying to do with Jules Bernard?

Love: As a defender, when they’re going at one pace, it’s easy to guard. If they’re going super fast, it’s easy to guard because you can stay with that. And if they’re going super slow the whole time, it’s easy to guard. So as a defender, where you’re trying to guard somebody to stopping and then going, or slowing down and then going fast, it’s hard to keep up with. So like I said, I’m kind of toying with him as I’m going fast to slow and then slow to fast.

Vecenie: What are you reading on Jules’ body that makes you make a decision on what move that you’re going to try and bust out?

Love: I’m really reading his front is top foot. I’m attacking his top foot every time I’m making my move. As you can see on this crossover, I attacked his top foot, then he switched his foot and so then I attacked the other foot.

Vecenie: You had him dancing.

Area for improvement: decision-making

Vecenie: This group is going to be where we get into some of your more questionable finishes. And to me, it’s more decision-based. Here, it seems like you kind of put your head down and just go for it.

Love: Yeah.

Vecenie: And at the end, you have this kick out here at R.J. (Davis) that I think you’re capable of making. Theoretically, you could try and hit the drop off here to Bacot. But I think the one that you probably missed here is the corner pass. These are hard reads obviously. … What are you seeing on this play?

Love: Yeah, if I keep my dribble, as you can see No. 10, he went to (Ar)Mando (Bacot). I could easily pass it to Brady. Brady was wide open.

Vecenie: That’s a really great call as well. I mean, your whole back here is turned, so I didn’t know if you can make that pass. But if you think you can make that pass, I’m here for it.

Love: Sure, yeah. If I keep my dribble, I have either option, R.J. or Brady.

Vecenie: Yeah, I think that’s a really, really good call about being able to keep your dribble and deciding to keep your dribble.

Love: Because I did my job. I had two people on me, so I created the confusion, and I had two people open, so if I had one more dribble, I’ve got those options.

Vecenie: This is one, again, where you do your job. Trevor Keels is not a bad defender, and you just immediately blow by him. You’ve done your job. You’re putting immediate, difficult pressure on the Duke defense where they are going to have to make some real scramble rotations here. You see Jeremy (Roach) come in from the corner. This is pretty easy kickout pass.

Love: The drop-off is right there to Puff too.

Vecenie: That’s exactly right. And instead, you go up and you challenge Theo John. That’s a tough one. Theo’s a really good shot blocker. To me, it’s not even about your finishing package. I think you can finish. It’s just the decisions.

Love: Yeah.

Upside as a passer

Vecenie: Let’s talk about some good ones now because you can really pass. … This is more of just a pocket pass in a pick-and-roll to Bacot, but you do a great job here, and the concept is similar. You see the big coming to you. You’re patient. You wait for that big to hit you. And bam, it’s right there. Bacot tears the rim down. What are you reading here?

Love: I’m really reading Brady’s man, and I’m reading the big that’s guarding Mando. So Brady’s man helps, I have an easy zip pass to Brady cross court. And I know he can’t really help off Brady, because if he does, Brady is going to knock it down. I know he’s not helping off him, so I’m seeing the big stays with me. And I hold the dribble for a dribble or two more. And I hit Mando on the pocket pass.

Vecenie: I love that you’re reading that backside tagger. That’s so important. That’s the read you have to make.

This next one comes in that same Duke game that we just called out. You guys are going to run a little Spain pick-and-roll action where Brady’s gonna pop out to the top. Here, you bring essentially four defenders toward you.

Love: Yeah, I got five guys looking at me (laughs).

Vecenie: Yeah, and you have your pick, right? You make the smart decision here. In this case, you find the best shooter. … Tell me what you’re seeing here.

Love: I know Brady is setting this back screen on Mark (Williams). And that’s just causing more confusion. And Paolo (Banchero) stays with me. So, I hit Brady. So I’ve got four guys because I could hit Leaky in the corner as well. But I’ve got three guys looking at me and Brady’s wide open, so I hit him at the top of the key.

Vecenie: AJ (Griffin) has long arms. That’s probably not a pass that you want to risk.

Love: Yeah, it’s a tougher pass.

Vecenie: And you don’t want to throw it into the crowd. This is just a perfect decision from you.

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(Top photo of Caleb Love and Paolo Banchero: Bob Donnan / USA Today)