UCLA's Love expects none on return to Oregon

Not long after UCLA's Kevin Love announced he'd spurned his hometown school in favor of one of its fiercest rivals, members of Oregon's notorious student section started plotting their revenge.

A group of Oregon students scoured the Internet for dirt on Love, focusing on everything from his family, to his me-first attitude, to his weight. Others hunted for his cell phone number to make crank calls or dug up photos of a red-eyed Love bawling after his team lost the Oregon state title game last year. One student even founded a group titled "I want Kevin Love to cry again" on Facebook, a social networking Web site.

Hailed as one of the greatest high school basketball players in Oregon history, Love could have been revered in his home state had he chosen to attend the school where his father, Stan, starred more than three decades ago. Instead, the Lake Oswego High alum expects to be cast as the villain Thursday night when he visits Oregon's McArthur Court for the first time since donning the blue and gold of UCLA.

"The crowd is going to be the worst anyone has ever seen," Love said. "I told my teammates, 'You guys are going to be happy because the crowd's only going to be on me.' Even if we win, but they still irritate me into having a bad game, I really think they would be the happiest people in the world."

Love isn't the first prospect branded a traitor for jilting his hometown school, but his decision to attend one of Oregon's chief rivals was especially galling for Ducks fans already frustrated over missing out on a once-a-generation big man. Even worse, Stan Love blasted his alma mater the day his son announced his choice, telling a Portland columnist that Oregon coach Ernie Kent "shot himself in the foot" by allowing the program to deteriorate and not recruiting Kevin harder.

"Kevin will take some ribbing, but there's even more anger at his dad," Oregon sophomore Daniel Cogan, president of the school's raucous student section known as "The Pit Crew,'' said. "That someone who went here would take a shot at the school and the basketball program? That's what really ticked people off."

Love should be accustomed to playing in front of hostile crowds in his home state because in high school he thrived under such conditions.

Trumpeted as the sport's next great big man by age 15 when three newspapers covered his first varsity practice, Love probably would have incited resentment no matter what high school he attended. That he played at a prominent athletic powerhouse situated in one of Portland's most affluent suburbs only made him a more conspicuous target.

"He was the Darth Vader of high school basketball," Lake Oswego coach Mark Shoff said. "We're a school people like to hate because we're in a rich community. People do not root for a community where they feel people had everything handed to them."

Even in Lake Oswego itself, Love didn't exactly receive rock-star treatment. Neither Love nor his father can figure out why Lake Oswego's 1,800-seat gym was half-empty until the playoffs or why out-of-state crowds were typically more sympathetic than his home fans.

They're also perplexed that a golfer named Kevin Gay was chosen the school's top athlete last year, even though Love led a team with no other Division I recruits to the state title game, smashed Oregon's career scoring record and received numerous national player of the year awards.

"There was a lot of jealousy," Stan Love said. "Kevin was more appreciated out-of-state than in his hometown."

Despite the ill will directed at Love throughout his high school career, Ducks fans still clamored for the promising big man. Love considered Oregon for a while, eventually dropping the school from his list after his sophomore year as scholarship offers poured in from the likes of Duke, Kansas and North Carolina.

Love chose UCLA over North Carolina the summer before his senior year because he believed Coach Ben Howland could help him improve the facet of his game that needed the most work: defense. Asked to explain last week why Oregon didn't make the final cut, Love said the lack of in-state support played no role in his decision.

"Oregon's not a bad program," Love said. "But in the end, I just felt UCLA was the right place."

Love saw firsthand how much animosity his decision sparked last January, when Ducks fans showered him and his family with catcalls and obscenities when they attended the UCLA-Oregon game in Eugene. A few weeks later, a handful of yellow-shirted Pit Crew members bought courtside tickets to the high school state title game at McArthur Court so they could get a head start on razzing Love.

The onslaught that awaits Love on Thursday probably will be far worse, but the freshman has showcased the ability to overcome such antagonism in the past. A hostile crowd at Clackamas High was so awed by Love's 40-point performance last January that their boos turned to cheers by the second half and some 200 people lined up to get his autograph after the game.

"You want to leave him alone, not fuel the fire," Stan Love said. "When opposing fans get all over him, he elevates his game."

Turning the Oregon fans in his favor will be near impossible Thursday, so Love hopes to silence them by leading UCLA to victory.

"That's the best, isn't it?" Love said. "Especially if you have a great game against them, and hit a few shots? I don't think there's a better feeling."

(Contact Jeff Eisenberg at jeisenberg@PE.com.)

(Distributed by Scripps Howard News Service, www.scrippsnews.com.)