UCLA or Duke, who got the better deal?

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Just finished watching Duke dominate Purdue in West Lafayette, Ind., and as the Blue Devils pulled away, in large part because of the confident offense and better-than-adequate defense of Kyle Singler, it made me wonder: Who got the better deal?

Singler is a sophomore from Medford, Ore., and he was the bookend Oregon high school star with Kevin Love, Minnesota Timberwolves rookie who starred one year and was done at UCLA.

Here is my caveat: Of course UCLA would take Love. He has a wizard’s vision of basketball, a singular understanding of offense, of how a post man should move his feet and pass the ball and his talents were obvious and immense. He was a first-team All-American in his only college season and he would have been an all-time UCLA and collegiate great if he had stayed even one more year in Westwood. But he didn’t.

It was always pretty obvious that Love and Singler would not attend the same college, even though UCLA Coach Ben Howland tried to recruit both players. It was also pretty obvious that, without extenuating circumstances such as an injury, Love wasn’t staying in college more than a year. It was never that clear with Singler and, sure enough, he is back at Duke and at least so far, his decision is shaping up as very promising.

Love took UCLA to the Final Four, but it was a place the Bruins had gone two years in a row without Love, and Love could take them no further than the semifinal game. Duke was a second-round NCAA loser last year, a result that was a disappointment certainly, but in the final accounting, neither team won a national title and that matters most of all.

Now Love is dealing with NBA rookie reality. He comes off the bench more often than not. He went two games last week without scoring a basket. And UCLA is dealing with not having Love. The Bruins have been upset by Michigan already this season and it seems very unlikely they will ever be ranked No. 1 as they were more than once last year.

Singler, on the other hand, was joyously celebrating his team’s win in a very hostile arena Tuesday. He had 20 points and 12 rebounds against Purdue. He’s averaging almost 17 points and seven rebounds a game so far and it’s hard to pick someone in the country playing better.

If you are a big-time college coach and had to settle on only one -- Love for a single year or Singler for multiple years -- who would you choose?

Tough call. That’s why the UCLA and Duke coaches get the big bucks and we all get to second-guess.

-- Diane Pucin