July 22, 2010
Hale Stays Black and White
Lincoln High’s Keenan Hale has made his college decision -- he’s heading a bit south and a tad west. After leading his squad in scoring, rebounding, assists and steals plus a 22-6 overall record in the 2009-2010 season, the most valuable player of the Pioneer Valley League is morphing from a Fighting Zebra to a Penguin.
Hale will play two positions for Dominican
Hale has decided to attend Dominican University in San Rafael. The why and wherefore of his choice was centered around his long term future. "The biggest reason I chose Dominican was because of the academics. I’m going to be a communications major and Dominican has a really good communications department. There is an 11-1 student-to-teacher ration on campus and all the classes are taught by professors, not teaching assistants or student-teachers. The academics was the first thing I looked at, even before looking at the basketball program."
Continuing on, Hale explained, "they [the Dominican coaching staff] had been in contact with me for a while and were always straightforward with me. Even when we had to wait some because of an issue with the [NCAA] Clearinghouse, they were patient."
Plus, Hale’s family can catch at least some of the Penguin home games since the school is located a couple or so hours from home.
As for hoops, he expects to be positioned at both the three and four spots -- "depending on who is guarding me."
One of Hale’s friends, 6-foot-8 Connor Haysbert, aligned himself with Dominican a while back, as did a top southern California backcourt shooter plus a point with a laudatory assist-to-turnover ratio. So Coach Bret Tovani is bringing in the talent necessary for his team to compete. Additionally 6-foot-2 Ian Collins, ex-of Piner High and Santa Rosa Junior College, has come aboard.
"I really want to thank my parents for making all this possible and also my club team coach Ernest Taubodo. "He is one of the main reasons why I was able to get to where I am today," Hale offered.
Dominican is a member of the D-2 Pacific West Conference, along with Dixie State (Utah), Grand Canyon (Arizona), Notre Dame de Namur (Belmont) and Academy of Art (San Francisco). Additionally, four league members are located in Hawaii -- BYU-Hawaii, Chaminade, Hawai’i Hilo and Hawai’i Pacific -- making for one of those really ‘tough’ winter road trips.
A final note: Hale was recently heading to Hawaii for some vacation time while his college selection remained open. He got to thinking that it would be nice to enjoy some island time without such a major decision hanging over his head and that’s when he made a phone call, thereby making the day for Coach Tovani. A couple of faxes later and Hale was Penguin-ized.