Coronado’s Kale faces tale of the tape

Adam Candee

Wednesday, July 23, 2003 | 10:12 a.m.

Someone scratched the CD in the middle of Mike Kale's grand number.

That is how it looked for Coronado's senior center Tuesday, when a sprained left wrist sporting a tape job worthy of a prize fighter kept Kale a step out of rhythm throughout his team's 84-72 opening loss in the adidas Big Time Tournament.

"I'm kind of bummed out because it's the biggest tournament of the year," Kale said as he sat on the coach's office couch, staring down that athletic tape in disappointment.

When you have spent the past four months transforming yourself from just another face above the crowd into one of the city's top basketball prospects, such a letdown is easy to understand.

But for Kale, the Big Time may have become smaller long before an errant dunk try in a pick-up game left him injured. Kale decided to play the tournament with his Coronado teammates instead of hooking up with one of the numerous local all-star teams.

"I didn't want to create any tension or anything," Kale said. "Hopefully, it'll bring us together, playing year-round together."

That sacrifice likely means reduced exposure to college coaches as Kale plays in the distant Coronado gym, far from the tournament epicenters of Green Valley and Durango. The Tubby Smith- and Bill Self-types will see players on the Las Vegas Rebels during Open Division play at the two big schools, while no more than a dozen coaches inhabited the roped-off coaches' section Tuesday afternoon at Coronado. Think of it as the recruiting Who's Who versus the 'Who?'

The soft-spoken Kale, though, appears much more concerned about how to escape the tape than about how to attract a scholarship offer.

"I'm not worried about it," Kale said. "Hopefully, I'll end up at a school that wants me. It doesn't matter where, (a school) that doesn't have to go see a whole bunch of players, that will come and see me. I try not to worry about that when I'm playing basketball."

Kale's lack of concern about the spotlight is not surprising because he spent plenty of time with his name in the news at a young age. When he was 6 years old, Kale's biological father, Mladen, abducted him and whisked him to war-ravaged Croatia, the father's native country. Kale's mother, Barbara Spierer, went through an exhaustive three-month ordeal to regain her son, eventually sparking changes in passport application procedures and even a Lifetime TV feature.

Kale politely declined to talk about the situation, but Coronado coach Paul Berg said that Kale's mother and stepfather provide him with an excellent family structure.

"His stepfather came in and did a real nice job with him, and his mother's been great," Berg said.

Berg is thrilled to keep his best big man under his wing for the summer, and that's a two-fold emotion. Not only does Kale get to develop with his teammates, but Berg gets to guide his player through the recruiting minefield.

"I don't want to comment on AAU, but I like to keep my guys with me," Berg said.

Keeping Kale around means more work for Berg, who takes on the responsibility of alerting the schools on Kale's wish list that they will have to look a little harder to find him this week.

"I called all the schools for Mike and let them know that we're a host site and we're playing here," Berg said.

Kale said that UC Santa Barbara and New Mexico are expressing the most interest, with UNLV on the periphery. Most of it is attention Kale earned with a breakthrough spring and summer.

Termed by one local coach as "a late bloomer," Kale is becoming a more physical and aggressive player. Berg emphasized that Kale's footwork on both offense and defense is a hallmark improvement.

"If you look back at film from two years ago, it's almost funny to see how far he's come, at least fundamentally," Berg said.

At 6-foot-8, Kale's future projects in the post, but he is not content with developing only those skills.

"I'm think I'm getting a more complete game and (becoming) more of a leader," Kale said.

Kale's Coronado team takes on Fullerton (Calif.) at home today at 5 p.m.