Caleb Love will return to UNC, bolstering Tar Heels excitement for 2023 redemption tour

CHAPEL HILL, N.C. (WTVD) -- There's a whole lot of love to go around for North Carolina Tar Heels fans. The team that went to the NCAA championship game will return nearly all of its key pieces.

Caleb Love, UNC's second-leading scorer, announced his intentions to withdraw from the NBA Draft and wear Tar Heel blue for another season.

Love is the third starter from the most recent team to announce he would return for another run. First Team All-ACC Armando Bacot and defensive specialist Leaky Black made their intentions clear recently. Starting point guard RJ Davis will also be making a return to the Team, making his big announcement Saturday on Twitter. The only starter who will not be wearing argyle next season is breakout star Brady Manek; he is out of college eligibility.

Love is perhaps the most important piece to the success of the Tar Heels. His playmaking ability makes him one of the most dangerous weapons in college basketball. However, he has has a tendency to be streaky.

Love shot just 26 percent from three in his freshman year. He improved that to 36 percent last year. That helped him improve his points per game stat from just over 10 to nearly 16.

Tar Heel fans believe Love's continued improvement could help lead UNC to another redemption story--much like they saw in 2017 where the team turned a heart-breaking national championship game loss the year before into another banner hanging in the Dean E. Smith Center.