GUELPH, Ont. – Throughout the 2020 fall semester, the University of Guelph Department of Athletics will be highlighting various members from our Gryphon varsity teams as part of our "BioSteel Student-Athlete Spotlight." This week's edition features Keenan Dowell, a human kinetics major with the Guelph Gryphons men's basketball team.
   
KEENAN DOWELL'S UNIQUE JOURNEY FROM B.C. TO THE UNIVERSITY OF GUELPH

Raise your hand if you can say that you played high school basketball alongside a future No. 1 overall pick in the NBA Draft.
 
Nobody at the University of Guelph should have their hand up at this point.
 
Except for Keenan Dowell.
 
Keenan Dowell, a 22-year-old human kinetics major at the University of Guelph, is currently in his second season as a member of the Guelph Gryphons men's basketball team. The 2019-20 campaign marked Keenan's first season of OUA basketball after the Surrey, B.C. native made a pair of stops in the United States prior to arriving in Guelph. Dowell's collegiate career began in 2017-18, with the talented guard playing one season in Wyoming with the Sheridan College Generals. After that, Dowell headed to the University of Alaska Anchorage (NCAA Division II) where he suited up for the Seawolves for the 2018-19 season. But to properly chronicle Keenan Dowell's long and winding road from Surrey, B.C. to the University of Guelph, one must go back even further. Keenan's unique basketball journey begins in his early teenage years, with his exceptional talent at a young age leading to an unforgettable high school basketball experience south of the border.
 
From an early age, it was evident that Keenan Dowell was a special talent on the basketball court. At B.C. Christian Academy, a small "Pre-K-to-Grade 12" school on Canada's west coast which boasts a modest enrolment of just 250 students total, Keenan played a key role in helping shape his hometown school into one of the top high school basketball programs in British Columbia. In Grade 8, Keenan was already a standout guard on his Senior Boys high school basketball team, whose starting lineup featured several players 6-foot-8 or taller. Keenan was not in that category. But by his Grade 10 year, he did hit a growth spurt, going from a self-described 'frail, 5-foot-5 or 5-foot-6 kid' into a 6-foot-1 guard. As one of the top shooting guards in the province, Keenan earned a spot on the roster for Team B.C. and helped his home province win the U16 Western Canadian championships.

By this point, the recruiting process was already well underway for Keenan Dowell, who was on the radars for basketball coaches all over the place, both north and south of the border.
 
One of the many coaches who connected with Keenan, was Zack Jones, a former NBA player with the Cleveland Cavaliers who served as the head coach of the Balboa City School - a San Diego-based high school. The pitch to Keenan was simple: if you make the move down the Pacific coast to San Diego and join Balboa, you will have the opportunity to play alongside one of the top basketball prospects in the world in Deandre Ayton. The opportunity was too good to pass up. With his 16th birthday just around the corner, Keenan packed up his things and made the move. What transpired was an unforgettable two-year run of high school hoops in the States.
 
Keenan Dowell played both his Grade 10 and Grade 11 years at Balboa City School in San Diego. And the hype was real for his teammate Deandre Ayton, who would go on to be selected No. 1 overall by the Phoenix Suns in the 2018 NBA Draft. Keenan recalls traveling all over the U.S. to play in some of the highest-profiled high school basketball tournaments in the country. In particular, Keenan recalls making a trip to Fort Myers, Florida in December of 2014 for the "City of Palms" tournament which included several individuals who have since gone on to become household names for NBA fans, such as Ben Simmons (Philadelphia 76ers), Jayson Tatum (Boston Celtic), Jaylen Brown (Boston Celtics) and Bam Adebayo (Miami Heat), just to name a few. The decision to make the move to San Diego was paying off from a basketball standpoint. But the challenges off the court posed a challenge of their own.
 
Billeting with a family in south east San Diego, Keenan recalls the challenges of having to adjust to the culture shock that came along with his new surroundings, which included local gang activity happening just a block up away from his new San Diego home. In the end, Keenan decided to return home to B.C. Christian Academy for his final year of high school. It was that same year that the B.C. native made a memorable recruiting trip to the University of Guelph in March of 2017.
 
By 2017, Keenan Dowell had already developed a good relationship with Chris O'Rourke (head coach, Gryphons men's basketball) and Konrad Surma (assistant coach and director of recruiting, Gryphons men's basketball) after first meeting them during his Grade 10 year. By the spring of 2017, Keenan recalls leaving the University of Guelph thoroughly impressed by his recruiting trip. He liked the coaches. Academically, the school had what he wanted with a great human kinetics program, which the now 22-year-old is hoping one day translates into a career in physiotherapy. The Gryphon basketball program also checked a lot of boxes for Keenan, who was impressed by the athleticism and talent of players like Malcolm Glanville, Tommy Yanchus, Aaron Nugent and Rasheed Weekes, while also having some familiarity with the likes of Sherwood Park, Alberta native Banky Alade, who Keenan played against during their days with Team B.C. and Team Alberta. In fact, when asked about his recruiting visit to U of G in March of 2017, Keenan now admits he would have signed with Guelph on the spot, if not for the fact that several NCAA Division I offers were still in the mix at that time, including ongoing conversations with Stanford and Washington State. The good impression stuck with Dowell. After a pair of stops in the U.S., Keenan made the decision to complete his education in his home country while playing out the rest of his collegiate eligibility. The Gryphons were an obvious choice. And both parties have benefitted.
 
Dowell impressed throughout his rookie season as a Gryphon in 2019-20, quickly establishing himself as one of the top point guards in the conference. The silky-smooth, 6-foot-5 lefty anchored the Gryphon backcourt in 2019-20 and helped lead the Gryphons to a double-digit win season and a berth in the OUA playoffs. During Keenan's first-year in the OUA, he averaged 11.4 points, 4.3 rebounds and 2.2 assists per game. Standout games for the newcomer from B.C. included a 20-point performance at Laurier in November, where he was a near-perfect 8-of-9 from the floor and 4-for-4 from beyond the arc, as well as a 21-point performance versus Windsor in January, where he drained five three-pointers in the Gryphons 94-93 win over the Lancers. Despite the coronavirus pandemic resulting in the cancellation of the Gryphons 2020-21 season, Keenan has remained in Guelph to practice and train with the men's basketball team while studying remotely from his off-campus house in Guelph. The journey has been a long one for Dowell, with COVID-19 providing the latest wrinkle, but the talented guard is hoping to write one last chapter as a Gryphon with hopes of a return to play for the 2021-2022 campaign.
   
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