Adam Keefe Says ‘Yes’ to Stanford : Woodbridge Forward to Sign With Cardinal Wednesday

Adam Keefe, a 6-foot 9-inch forward from Woodbridge High School, announced Monday that he has made a verbal commitment to Stanford University and will sign a national letter of intent with the Cardinal Wednesday.

Keefe averaged 22.2 points, 12.8 rebounds and shot 57% from the field in leading Woodbridge to the Division II State basketball championship last season in Oakland. The Warriors won 18 straight games, including eight post-season games en route to the title.

Keefe was recruited by 150 major colleges and narrowed his choices to North Carolina, Duke, Notre Dame, Boston College and Stanford. He canceled a trip to Notre Dame, deciding to choose between North Carolina and Stanford.

“It was very close, but I wanted to stay on the West Coast and attend Stanford,” Keefe said. “I felt confident I could fit in at North Carolina, but it was hard to say no to the No. 1 academic school in the nation.”

Stanford was recently named the nation’s best university in a survey of 764 college presidents conducted by U.S. News & World Report magazine.

Mike Montgomery, Stanford coach, told Keefe he could make an immediate contribution in the Cardinal program at power forward. Keefe, who has maintained a 3.3 grade-point average at Woodbridge, is undecided on a major.

“Things started getting tense since last weekend when I visited North Carolina and Duke,” Keefe said. “It’s nice to get the decision out of the way and look ahead to my senior season.”

While visiting North Carolina, Keefe was given a tally sheet by Tarheel Coach Dean Smith to use in evaluating the colleges he was considering. Once Keefe had narrowed his choices to North Carolina and Stanford, he used the evaluation sheet to make his selection.

“I gave pluses and minuses to each school and the final score was 30-28 in favor of North Carolina,” he said. “But my gut feeling was Stanford. I called told Coach Smith and told him about my decision, and he wished me all the luck in the world.”

Bill Shannon, Woodbridge coach, said Montgomery was practically speechless when Keefe informed him on Sunday night that he would be attending Stanford.

“When Adam called Montgomery to inform him he was coming, the line went dead for 10 seconds,” Shannon said. “It was like he (Montgomery) went into a state of shock.

“I got on the line to make sure he hadn’t passed out, and the line went dead for another five seconds. I’m sure Adam is the best player he’s ever landed.”

Keefe is generally considered the third-best player in the state behind St. Anthony point guard Darrick Martin and Fairfax forward Chris Mills. Street & Smith magazine rates Keefe as one of the country’s top 40 players.

Under NCAA rules, Keefe was allowed nine in-home visits and along with the five schools he scheduled to visit he also considered Arizona, UC Irvine, USC and California.

Keefe is the second player in Southern California to commit to Stanford this year. Earlier, Paul Garrett, a 6-9 center from Palisades, announced he would attend Stanford.