Mizzou target Caleb Love fits Cuonzo Martin's bill of "positionless basketball"

College basketball coaches were able to reach out to Class of 2020 recruits for the first time on Friday, and Caleb Love received his fair share of calls.

The 6-foot-3 guard from Christian Brothers College in St. Louis heard from Mizzou, Xavier, DePaul, Marquette, Iowa, Ohio State, Michigan, Virginia, Creighton, Michigan and Kansas State as he continues to blossom into a national recruit. He also picked up offers from Florida, Marquette and Texas A&M.

Love had a strong showing at the Nike Elite 100 camp in St. Louis in early June and carried that into the Mizzou team camp, where he had the coaching staff’s full attention.

Love told The Star on Monday that he was starting his week off with an unofficial visit to Missouri after the entire Tiger coaching staff spoke to him while he was at Missouri's team camp last week. The visit had been in the works for weeks.

“(They said) to keep doing me,” he said the staff told him. “But don’t let up and they just said they are really happy with how my game developed from last year to this year. They are looking forward to seeing me in July.”

Love will be a high priority for Missouri's 2020 class because he fits Martin's desires for a positionless basketball system. The coach wants athletes who can play and defend multiple positions while spacing the floor. At the Nike camp in St. Louis, Love showed his ability to play on and off the ball and be a menace on defense.

He fed fellow AAU teammate Luke Kasubke at the Elite 100 camp while playing point guard. When asked to play on the wing, Love hit multiple threes and scored through the lane despite heavy contact.

“I just had to get used to playing with other top players,” he said. “I just got it going. Getting to the cup, midrange. Scoring at all three levels.”

Love said playing alongside Kasubke was luck of the draw because summer basketball camps require players to quickly learn the tendencies of the players they’re competing with and against. Kasubke, who took an unofficial visit to Missouri on Friday, plays with Love on the under-16 Bradley Beal Elite team.

“Every time I drove he was open, I got it to him and he was knocking it down,” he said. “Knocking that three down. That’s what he does.”

Love was also a menace on defense and forced multiple turnovers on top players while occasionally blocking a shot.

At the Missouri team camp, Love said he served as the sparkplug for the offense.

“I really have to carry the load this year with a lot of our seniors and some transfers leaving,” he said of what expects for his junior high school season. “I’m really focused on being a leader.”

CBC lost Davion Bradford, a top-50 forward in the 2020 class, to Hillcrest Academy, a prep school in Arizona.

Love currently has no other visits planned, but that could change after the AAU season ends. He said he was stunned with the amount of calls and offers he picked up in such a short span, but he isn’t too worried about the recruiting process.

After all, it essentially began last week.

“I didn’t let it overwhelm me,” he said. “It’s just a blessing and I’m just enjoying the process.”

This story was originally published June 18, 2018 at 3:38 PM with the headline "Mizzou target Caleb Love fits Cuonzo Martin's bill of "positionless basketball"."