Recruiting Report: Dawson Garcia (2020)
Prior Lake standout Dawson Garcia has had an outstanding season and today he spoke with Prep Hoops about Prior Lake and recruiting. Prior Lake Head Coach Bob Schweim has been most impressed with Garcia’s growth as a defender. “The fact…
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Continue ReadingPrior Lake standout Dawson Garcia has had an outstanding season and today he spoke with Prep Hoops about Prior Lake and recruiting.
Prior Lake Head Coach Bob Schweim has been most impressed with Garcia’s growth as a defender.
“The fact is Dawson uses both hands, he can go inside and outside, he plays both ends of the floor, and the kid is virtually impossible to guard or go against,” Schweim explained. “There are very few guys in the state – I’ve watched fall league, summer league, AAU basketball, everything – there are very few guys that can guard him.
“Chanhassen ran a 2-3 zone on Thursday night. Our shooters missed some shots so we let Dawson go out there, put a smaller guy underneath, and Dawson went and hit three threes in a row pulling the score apart. I’ve only coached a few guys in Terrell Clark (Burnsville), Alex Richter (Lakeville South/Augustana), and Ryan Amoroso (Burnsville/Marquette/San Diego State) where you can kind of sit back and let them do their thing. Guys like that are great players and you can let them do their thing.
“Dawson is unguardable and he is so strong. Some people think he looks skinny but he isn’t, he’s a strong kid.”
Prior Lake is 6-1 on the season and ranked second in the state (behind Park Center who beat the Lakers 66-64 in the season opener). This week Prior Lake has three road games playing at Farmington, at Eagan, and at New Prague.
“We definitely expected this type of season coming in,” Garcia said on Friday. “In the summer we all worked hard to be where we are right now: a top team in the state. There are a bunch of teams out there and it’s up for grabs for that top spot so, but we feel we are right there with everybody.”
Prior Lake is in Class AAAAA’s section two, a group that has three teams ranked in the top ten (Prior Lake, Eden Prairie, Shakopee) and six in the top twenty (Minnetonka, Chaska, and Edina). To steal a term from Soccer, this is the ‘Group of Death” in Minnesota high school basketball. To make the state tournament the Lakers still have a lot to work on.
“Every night we need to come out with more energy and beat the teams that we are supposed to beat on paper,” Garcia explained. “Last night against Chanhassen we came out a little flat. We had no energy in the first half but in the second half we picked up the energy a lot. We need to not play down to the level of competition and always put teams away.
“At halftime in the locker room of that game we talked it over as captains and spoke about holding one another accountable. Guys weren’t talking on defense, we weren’t diving on loose balls, we weren’t grabbing rebounds after blocks, we just need to focus on those things to win games.
“This is probably the most comfortable that I have ever felt with a Prior Lake basketball team just because the last two years, most of us played together too. And all summer too and we are all good friends so there is no division among us.”
In that win over Chanhassen, Garcia went over 1,000 points for his career. “It feels to join some of the great company here at Prior Lake,” Garcia said about scoring his 1,000th point. “The last player that I remember doing it was Jon Sobaski and I grew up watching him all of the time. I was a big fan of his game.”
Garcia is going to add a whole lot more to that total in the next year and a half of basketball. Garcia’s game is ever expanding including his defensive ability.
“I’ve stepped it up a lot on the defensive end,” Dawson explained. “Being able to guard one through five and also just tracking the ball a lot better. Offensively I’ve become more comfortable with the ball in my hands coming off of screens as opposed to being just a catch and shoot shooter.”
With offers from Texas, Minnesota, Xavier, Ohio State, Purdue, Wisconsin, Marquette, Butler, Baylor, Iowa, Rutgers, and so many more, Garcia has quickly become a wanted commodity.
“Basically all of the schools that have offered me continue to talk to me regularly and then some of the schools that are showing interest that still talk to me are Michigan, Virginia, and others,” Garcia said .
Dawson has done a fantastic job of getting out and seeing the schools that have offered. He was at Marquette this fall, took official trips to Baylor and Texas, was at Butler and Xavier last spring, and Garcia has been to Minnesota several times as well. Texas was the first school to offer so Garcia’s visit to Austin was planned quickly.
“I went to Texas in October,” Garcia explained. “The visit was great. The coaches were great. I met with the academic advisor, I met with the nutritionist, I got to see all of their different dorm rooms. The basketball as well, I got to watch a practice and I really liked the energy at their practice. Coach Shaka Smart is a great coach and is obviously well known.”
Garcia also visited Baylor this past fall.
“I love the Baylor campus, it’s surrounded by water which is super cool. I’ve never seen anything like it so that stood out. Coach Scott Drew is another great head coach who is well known. I have great relationships with the Baylor assistants as well as with the Texas assistants. I met with the academic advisors, they took me around campus and it was another great experience.”
Dawson has been to the University of Minnesota a few times now including a recent game over Holiday break. Richard Pitino watched Garcia play last Friday and his relationship with Garcia continues to grow.
“I love the way Minnesota is playing right now,” Dawson explained. “I was there recently for one of their games. The Gophers won and then I got to go into their locker room and I really liked the energy after the game too. I got a chance to hang out with Coach (Kyle) Lindsted after the game. He was super cool and I had a good experience talking with him, and a good experience there.
“The win versus Wisconsin last night was such a big win.”
Garcia has been at Williams Arena several times and seems to enjoy the building.
“I could definitely see myself playing in Williams Arena. Growing up watching the Gophers I used to go to their games when I was younger. I actually remember watching a game at Williams Arena because my dad’s friend’s son played for Iowa and I went there when I was young and I was super impressed. I like the lifted court, I’ve always thought that was cool.
“Coach Richard Pitino, now that I’ve got to know him I really like him. He’s a great guy and a great coach as well.”