Missed opportunity gives Seattle's Garcia new life

It may only be about six miles in proximity from Seattle's Capitol Hill to the shores of Union and Portage Bays, but it was worlds apart for Charles Garcia.

Garcia was all set to play at the University of Washington for a Huskies team that is expected to go to the NCAA tournament and challenge for Pac-10 supremacy this season.

Then, just prior to enrolling, the junior college big man was informed that he was denied admission and wound up just down the road at Division I Independent Seattle University, which isn't even eligible to play in the Big Dance.

"It was devastating," Garcia said.

Garcia signed with the Huskies as an unheralded junior college post player who was considered a "defender and rebounder."

"I was a no-name," Garcia admitted. "I think if I had been a big-name guy, I'd probably be there right now. But coming out of junior college, I just don't think they wanted to take a chance on me."

If, say, he'd come in with the rep of a Jon Brockman or a Spencer Hawes, it might have been different. But that wasn't the case, and the school didn't allow him in due to academic concerns.

Now, Garcia has become a household name among NBA personnel at Seattle U. for the guy who signed him at Washington — former Huskies assistant Cameron Dollar.

"He's a guy that could be a first-round pick," said one NBA executive. "He's got so much upside."

Dollar admits he didn't have a clue what he had until the first few days of practice.

The 6-foot-9 1/2, 220-pound Garcia had spent his entire basketball career down in the paint. But Dollar was told by one of his assistants that Garcia was skilled on the perimeter.

"He kept telling me he's a three-man," Dollar recalled. "And I need a rebounder. Then, watching him, I'm thinking that my assistant's a liar. This dude's not a three-man; he's a two."

"He's exceptional from 17 feet in," added Dollar. "He's extremely athletic, skilled and versatile."

Garcia is averaging 22.6 points and 9.7 rebounds through the first 15 games of the season.

"It's like he had a secret, and no one ever knew about it," Dollar said. "He's going to be ridiculous."

"I kept telling Coach Romar and Coach Dollar that I could bring something different, that I wasn't just a defender and rebounder," Garcia said. "But they didn't believe me."

Now, nearly everyone is sold on Garcia's versatile game.

"He's talented," said Utah coach Jim Boylen, who watched Garcia put up 24 points and eight rebounds in a loss to Seattle in November. "He can play anywhere in the country."

But instead of suiting up for a high-major program where there's a chance his perimeter game would have never been showcased, Garcia plays for a Seattle program that isn't eligible for the NCAA tournament until the 2012-13 campaign because of its transition back to the Division I ranks.

Garcia played high school ball at Dorsey High in Los Angeles and then went to Riverside Community College for a year and a half — where he played on the blocks and averaged about 12 points per game — before attending Yuba Community College and not playing basketball the last part of his sophomore season.

"I was a nobody," Garcia admitted.

"No one saw him last year," Dollar said. "So when he didn't get into Washington, no one really knew anything about him."

Dollar knew him.

But he was completely off-base in what he was getting.

The team's first game of the season was against Oklahoma State, and Dollar told him to get down low and do some work in the paint.

"That was my fault," Dollar said. "He was 5-of-15, and he never came out of the post. I told him not to."

The next game Garcia was given a different set of instructions.

"I told him to float on the perimeter," Dollar said.

The conversation went something like this:

Dollar: "I don't want you to post up."

Garcia: "I don't have to post up at all?"

Dollar: "No. Not once."

Garcia: "I can bring it up the floor, too?"

Dollar: "Yep."

And that's when Garcia's new career officially began, the one that now has him being picked somewhere in next June's NBA Draft.

"It's crazy," Garcia said of his newfound fame. "Wow? Me? Seriously?"

"He has as much potential as any player coming into college this year other than John Wall," Dollar said. "He's only played on the perimeter for 14 games in his entire life. He hasn't even scratched the surface of what he can be."

"If the NBA wants him, I don't want to keep him," Dollar continued. "I just want what's best for him."

Garcia says that while he has a lot to learn, he will take a hard look at going pro after this season.

"It's definitely an option," he said. "But I'm just focusing on our next game because the NBA's always going to be an option."

Six miles away, that might not have been the case.