Hey everyone, I'm James Keefe. I am a junior at Santa Margarita Catholic High School in Southern California. I am 6'9” 205 lbs forward who likes to play the four, but I’ll play the three or five spot too. When I'm not playing basketball I enjoy going to the beach, playing poker with my friends, playing video games and listening to music.
This spring and summer were super busy for me. It included a lot of traveling for basketball. I went to
Virginia Beach, Houston, Las Vegas, New Orleans, Santa Barbara, and played in a few local tournaments on top of that. I also attended the Nike Skills academy, Nike All-American camp, and the UCLA camp. Every place I visited was a lot of fun but perhaps the best tournament was the Boo Williams Tournament in Virginia. That was my personal favorite because it was the first big tournament that I had attended and I was surprised to see the talent that was gathered there. Very impressive.
It is just a few weeks into my junior year here at SMC and I can still say that I am enjoying high school. I am very excited about the upcoming season and cannot wait to get back to playing school games. Last year our team was able to win CIF and made it to the semi-finals in the state before losing to Compton Centennial – the eventual champs. This year we hope to have the same amount of success except perhaps the title. We have a good group of guys coming back plus a few newcomers so our team should be solid again.
The biggest game on the schedule my teammates and I are looking forward to would be our annual home game against our chief rival school Mater Dei. They’ve been a longtime powerhouse in SoCal and it’s always an exciting game. Last year we were able to pull off a victory for the first time in four seasons.
As college gets closer and closer I have tried to narrow it down to a select amount of schools. UCLA, Stanford, Duke, Notre Dame, and Arizona are my current top five choices. I have viewed the campus of UCLA many times and am planning on making visits to all the schools that are on this list. I am not sure when I will commit to a college but I do know that I am looking for both a good basketball program and an academically respected school.
In response to some of the questions that were sent in, I’ll try to answer as many as I can. First of all, someone asked about the recruitment process and the “star treatment” one might receive. The recruitment process has been quite an experience. You just have to ignore all the promises and bonuses and keep your mind on what you really want out of a school. To me basketball is a great way of life in all levels and I plan to play as long as I can. Being known as a great basketball player would be an excellent achievement – but that’s not all I want. My priorities in attending a school would be to compete athletically while deciding what type of career I might want after school and after basketball.
Another question that was asked was about the top three things I am seeking in a university. The strength of the schools reputation in both academics and basketball would be the top two. A location with a great atmosphere is something else I’d feel comfortable with.
One person inquired about the possibility of jumping straight to the NBA and I cannot see myself going to play professionally out of high school. All the experience I’d miss out on if I bypassed college would be tough to imagine, both in basketball and life building.
The last two questions were in reference to my summer basketball experiences and who the best player I played against was and what basketball weakness I am currently trying to strengthen. So the best (or toughest) player I’d say was Richard Hendrix because of his strength and power around the basket. This off-season, I have tried to focus on my three-spot skills. This includes shooting the three-pointer and taking my man off the dribble.
Thanks for reading my first journal and I hope to answer more questions soon. Feel free to write me at the following link; http://www.california-insider.com/elink.htm
James Keefe
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