I know we all heard about it, now here is a little background....
Louisville's Garcia motivated by brother's memory
> By CHIP TOWERS
The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
> Published on: 03/31/05
Every time Francisco Garcia steps to the free throw line, after he sinks that nearly automatic first shot, he taps his heart twice with his right hand, then points skyward.
Garcia is sending a message to his little brother, Hector.
"I think about my brother every day, every second, even when I'm on the court," says Garcia, the leading scorer for the Final Four-bound Louisville Cardinals. "Every time I shoot a free throw, I think about him. It's been hard, but I know he's never going to leave me. He's always going to stay here with me."
Again, Garcia points to his heart.
Hector Garcia is no longer with us. Then 19, he was shot and killed 15 months ago in the lobby of the South Bronx housing project in New York City, where he lived with his mother.
Hector's death is Garcia's primary motivation — along with leading the Cardinals to their first national championship in 19 years — to become
a great basketball player. Most everyone who has seen Francisco play in the NCAA tournament would agree that one of those feats already has been accomplished.
"He's one of the top three or four players in the country, in my opinion," Louisville coach Rick Pitino says. "He's a great talent and has improved as much as any player I've ever coached. That's due to a lot of hard work on his part."
Garcia is driven to succeed because he wants to get his family out of those projects. It's too late for his only brother, the victim of a still-unsolved crime. His mother, Miguelina Garcia Soto, who brought her sons to the U.S. from the Dominican Republic 11 years ago, remains in that crime-riddled neighborhood.
But not for long — not if Garcia can help it. A junior forward, he has already announced his intentions to make the jump to the NBA.
"This is it. I'm going to take care of my mom," Garcia says. "She can go anywhere she wants. She just has to move [from the Bronx]."
Garcia has Louisville moving, as well. The No. 4-ranked Cardinals (33-4) advanced to St. Louis and a date with No. 1-ranked Illinois with an impressive run through the Albuquerque Regional. In their wake lies Louisiana-Lafayette, Georgia Tech, No. 1 seed Washington and one of the best-shooting teams ever to sit on the line of a bracket, West Virginia.
Heading into Saturday's semifinals, Garcia has scored 84 points in the tournament, an average of 20 a game. That's second only to North Carolina's Sean May.
But Pitino says it's all of the things other than scoring that makes Garcia such a valuable player. Garcia, who averages 16 points per game, has 16 assists in the tournament. He also leads the team with 55 blocks and 64 steals.
And Garcia gets a lot of chances to play homage to his little brother. He has attempted 364 foul shots at Louisville and is third on his school's all-time list with an .848 career free throw percentage. He has missed only two (46 of 48) since going 7 of 8 against South Florida on Feb. 12.
Along with his ability to play in the backcourt at 6 feet 7, these are just some of the reasons Garcia projects to be a great pro. Yet draft experts point out a curious flaw.
"He just turned 23 and some people in the NBA have knocked him because of his age," Pitino says with a roll of his eyes. "This is the strangest thing I've encountered in 31 years of coaching. The NBA says, 'Well, he's a little old, he's 23.' And I say, 'If you want to win, you want to turn around your franchise and you want somebody to make you better, why would you want a young guy who's not going to be ready for four or five years? Why wouldn't you want somebody who has more maturity, who's unselfish, who won't be spoiled by the professional amenities that they get?'
"I could never understand their reasoning. It's not like he's 33."
No, but Garcia is wise and motivated beyond his years. And at this point, there's no reason to believe he won't succeed at whatever he sets out to do.
Says Garcia: "All I would tell [the NBA] is, wherever I go, I'm going to give them my best. I'm going to keep working hard like I've been working here and I'm going to make them proud."
And somewhere, far away from the Bronx and Louisville and St. Louis, a little brother taps his heart twice and points earthward.
Louisville's Garcia motivated by brother's memory
> By CHIP TOWERS
The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
> Published on: 03/31/05
Every time Francisco Garcia steps to the free throw line, after he sinks that nearly automatic first shot, he taps his heart twice with his right hand, then points skyward.
Garcia is sending a message to his little brother, Hector.
"I think about my brother every day, every second, even when I'm on the court," says Garcia, the leading scorer for the Final Four-bound Louisville Cardinals. "Every time I shoot a free throw, I think about him. It's been hard, but I know he's never going to leave me. He's always going to stay here with me."
Again, Garcia points to his heart.
Hector Garcia is no longer with us. Then 19, he was shot and killed 15 months ago in the lobby of the South Bronx housing project in New York City, where he lived with his mother.
Hector's death is Garcia's primary motivation — along with leading the Cardinals to their first national championship in 19 years — to become
a great basketball player. Most everyone who has seen Francisco play in the NCAA tournament would agree that one of those feats already has been accomplished.
"He's one of the top three or four players in the country, in my opinion," Louisville coach Rick Pitino says. "He's a great talent and has improved as much as any player I've ever coached. That's due to a lot of hard work on his part."
Garcia is driven to succeed because he wants to get his family out of those projects. It's too late for his only brother, the victim of a still-unsolved crime. His mother, Miguelina Garcia Soto, who brought her sons to the U.S. from the Dominican Republic 11 years ago, remains in that crime-riddled neighborhood.
But not for long — not if Garcia can help it. A junior forward, he has already announced his intentions to make the jump to the NBA.
"This is it. I'm going to take care of my mom," Garcia says. "She can go anywhere she wants. She just has to move [from the Bronx]."
Garcia has Louisville moving, as well. The No. 4-ranked Cardinals (33-4) advanced to St. Louis and a date with No. 1-ranked Illinois with an impressive run through the Albuquerque Regional. In their wake lies Louisiana-Lafayette, Georgia Tech, No. 1 seed Washington and one of the best-shooting teams ever to sit on the line of a bracket, West Virginia.
Heading into Saturday's semifinals, Garcia has scored 84 points in the tournament, an average of 20 a game. That's second only to North Carolina's Sean May.
But Pitino says it's all of the things other than scoring that makes Garcia such a valuable player. Garcia, who averages 16 points per game, has 16 assists in the tournament. He also leads the team with 55 blocks and 64 steals.
And Garcia gets a lot of chances to play homage to his little brother. He has attempted 364 foul shots at Louisville and is third on his school's all-time list with an .848 career free throw percentage. He has missed only two (46 of 48) since going 7 of 8 against South Florida on Feb. 12.
Along with his ability to play in the backcourt at 6 feet 7, these are just some of the reasons Garcia projects to be a great pro. Yet draft experts point out a curious flaw.
"He just turned 23 and some people in the NBA have knocked him because of his age," Pitino says with a roll of his eyes. "This is the strangest thing I've encountered in 31 years of coaching. The NBA says, 'Well, he's a little old, he's 23.' And I say, 'If you want to win, you want to turn around your franchise and you want somebody to make you better, why would you want a young guy who's not going to be ready for four or five years? Why wouldn't you want somebody who has more maturity, who's unselfish, who won't be spoiled by the professional amenities that they get?'
"I could never understand their reasoning. It's not like he's 33."
No, but Garcia is wise and motivated beyond his years. And at this point, there's no reason to believe he won't succeed at whatever he sets out to do.
Says Garcia: "All I would tell [the NBA] is, wherever I go, I'm going to give them my best. I'm going to keep working hard like I've been working here and I'm going to make them proud."
And somewhere, far away from the Bronx and Louisville and St. Louis, a little brother taps his heart twice and points earthward.
