Kevin Love Wins National Prep Athlete Award

By Bruin Basketball Report

UCLA-bound Kevin Love of Lake Oswego High School was named 2006-07 Gatorade National Boys Basketball
Player of the Year.

The award, which recognizes not only athletic performance, but also
meeting high standards of academic achievement while demonstrating
exemplary personal character on and off the court, distinguished Love
as the nation’s best high school boys basketball player.

The senior center averaged 33.6 points, 17 rebounds, four assists
and three blocks per game in leading the Lakers (26-2) to the Class 6A
title game.
The 6'10 260 lb Love was named a McDonald’s All-American, the
nation’s Naismith player of the year and a three-time Oregonian state
player of the year – the first-ever three-time boys basketball winner.
For his career, in which he broke a 50-year-old state record for points
scored (finishing with 2,628), he averaged 26.8 points and 14.5
rebounds per game.  He led Lake
Oswego to a 92-21 record in his four-year varsity career.

Love has maintained a B-average in the classroom and shines as an
active volunteer in his community, serving as a youth basketball coach
as well as a visiting mentor for at-risk students at a local elementary
school. As part of a school fundraiser, Love auctioned off his time by
offering a private skills clinic to the highest bidder.

“His ability to dominate at both ends of the floor is pretty
historic at the high school level,” said Lake Oswego head coach Mark
Shoff. “This state has produced players like Richard Washington and
Danny Ainge, who went on to great college and pro careers, but we’ve
never had anyone of Kevin’s caliber at this point in his career. I
think he’s truly set himself apart.”

The son of Stan Love, a former NBA player and Oregon Duck, Kevin
Love will attend UCLA on a basketball scholarship this fall. He joins
two-time NBA All-Star Baron Davis (1996-97, Crossroads High
School/Santa Monica, CA) as UCLA recruits named Gatorade National Boys
Basketball Player of the Year.

Love is nearing the end of his first week of summer classes at
UCLA.

"I'm from Oregon, so I'm not used to the sunshine all the time,
so that's not a big adjustment," he said. "College is going to be
a lot of fun. Coach Howland has done such a great job. I
really wanted to come in and learn defense from him and learn his
style of play. It fits me perfectly."

"I know they've gone to two consecutive Final Fours and
hopefully, we'll take it all the way this year," he said.

Recent Gatorade National Boys Basketball
Players of the Year include two-time winner Greg Oden, Dwight Howard, and two-time winner
LeBron James.

Connecticut-bound Maya Moore took home the women's national honors.

(photo credit: AP)