DC power forward Luka Garza sees himself fitting in at Iowa
IOWA CITY, Iowa – When Luka Garza pictures himself playing college basketball, he sees the same thing as Fran McCaffery.
That’s part of the reason Garza, a 6-foot-10, 240-pound power forward from Washington D.C., has Iowa among his top schools. He took his first official visit to Iowa this past weekend and liked what he heard from McCaffery.
“I think they see in me what I kind of see in myself and what my family sees in me and my potential and kind of what I bring to the table as far as a basketball player and a person,” Garza said Monday night. “I think they see that very clearly. And I’m very grateful that they were one of the first to see that overall.”
Garza is coming off a junior season in which he averaged 25 points, 13 rebounds and two blocks per game for Maret High School, which is a small, private school in Northwest Washington.
He has seen his stock rise this spring with Louisville among the latest schools to offer Garza a scholarship.
McCaffery, on the other hand, offered Garza a scholarship about a year ago and did so at a time when Garza still was showing the effects of a knee injury. Iowa assistant coach Sherman Dillard also has played a key role in recruiting Garza.
“I was coming off an injury and that was the first time they saw me and they offered me because he could see through that and coach McCaffery had a vision for what I could do in college and beyond that,” Garza said. “So I’m very grateful for that.
“And as I talk more to the coaching staff, we’ve been developing a great relationship. They’ve just really, really been great to me and I’m very humbled to have an opportunity like this.”
Garza thinks his skills would fit nicely in McCaffery’s offense because of the freedom and flexibility that McCaffery gives his frontline players.
“Coach McCaffery went over film with me and he showed me guys like Gabe Olaseni, Adam Woodbury, Jarrod Uthoff and Aaron White,” Garza said of four former Hawkeye frontline players. “I bring a low-post game where I can go back to the basket and I can score with my back to the basket. And I also bring the ability to trail the play and shoot threes and stretch the defense with my shooting ability.
“The great thing about Iowa is its offense kind of moves players inside and out so I could get to different spots on the floor. And that works really well for a guy like me. That ability to go inside and out is what I’m looking for at the college level, and that’s something they definitely offer.”
Iowa also offers Garza a chance to play for a program that is coming off four consecutive 20-win seasons and three consecutive trips to the NCAA Tournament under McCaffery, who just finished his sixth season as head coach.
Garza’s official visit this past weekend was his second trip to Iowa City. He also visited on the same weekend as the outdoor wrestling match between Iowa and Oklahoma State on Nov. 14 at Kinnick Stadium. The Iowa football team also hosted Minnesota in a night game on the same day.
“It was crazy,” Garza said of his first trip to Iowa City. “I remember talking to people in the stands telling me how far they traveled.”
Garza said he wants to take all his visits in May and June and then make a decision in July. He has over a dozen scholarship offers from schools that include Alabama, Penn State, Northwestern, Princeton, Columbia, James Madison, DePaul, LaSalle and George Washington among others.
“I don’t have specific narrowed-down list,” Garza said when asked if he had trimmed his list of schools. “My list is basically going to be where I visit. That’s going to be the deciding factor whether schools are cut off or not.”
In addition to liking McCaffery’s system, Garza also likes that Iowa is a member of the Big Ten Conference.
“It’s obviously one of the best conferences out there,” Garza said. “Night in and night out you’re going to play one of the best teams in the country and there is no way around that. That would be something I would embrace, being able to play against those guys is definitely going to make me so much better. And I’m going to be able to show what I can do against the best players in the country.”
Garza said distance from home will not be a factor when deciding which schools to visit.
“It doesn’t really have anything to do with it,” Garza said. “My family is really used to distance. I have family in Europe. I have family in California. I’m used to being all over the world.”
Garza’s family also has extensive ties to basketball.
His father, Frank Garza, played basketball at Idaho, while his mother, Seijla Garza, played professional basketball in Europe. He also has a 6-8 grandfather who played for Hawaii and an uncle who played for Oregon State.