UNC Basketball: Dawson Garcia’s absence remains a bit of a mystery

Dawson Garcia left the UNC basketball program in January due to family health issues. He hasn’t returned and his teammates apparently haven’t spoken to him.

Dawson Garcia had started 12 of his 16 games to begin the season and was averaging nine points and 5.5 rebounds when he left the University of North Carolina in late January to return home to Minnesota to assist with what he cited as “family health issues.”

In the time since, nearly two full months at this point, we’ve heard very little about Garcia, his family, the illness in question, or his intentions for next season.

Having said that, I feel the need to clarify that I neither anticipated nor expected a detailed explanation regarding the issues that Garcia and his family are going through, and I wish them all the absolute best. I would be remiss, however, if I didn’t mention the particular irregularity of the situation.

Typically, we would at least know something by now, given that it’s mid-March and we’re nearly two months removed from his departure from the team and campus altogether. You’d also think that Garcia’s teammates would have spoken to him, in passing if nothing else, but it seems as if that’s not the case either.

During a Q&A following North Carolina’s victory over Marquette, UNC players had almost no answer when asked if they had spoken to Garcia either before or after their victory over his former team in the first round of the NCAA Tournament on Thursday. Not only did they offer no response to the question, but Armando Bacot actually laughed.

I don’t want to read too much into their responses — or lack thereof — but it does seem rather odd, especially when you add in the overall lack of information and secrecy of the situation to this point. Everyone deserves their privacy, especially when it comes to family and health-related issues, and I’m in no way asserting that the case of Garcia and his family is any different.

The sum of everything that we do know, though, makes me have serious doubts as to whether or not we’ll see Garcia in a Carolina uniform next fall.

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