Odd saga of Memphis' Angel Garcia...

Angel Garcia....this is a pretty long, and weird story with several twists and turns...

Garcia is a tall (6-10) kid from Puerto Rico who was convinced by handlers to come to the US and get into high school because he had a definite potential for a basketball future.
You can check several old links and what you find is that early on he did pretty well in high school, playing at Lake Forest Academy with several other good prep-caliber players. But in high school -- 6-10 is the tallest guy on the floor in virtually every game and gave a distinct advantage that he wasn't going to have at the next level.

Then Garcia had some academic issues and was ushered out at LFA then enrolled in public high school in East Chicago. There he had gobs of issues getting eligible, due to both the transfer concerns plus background transcripts were insufficient.
But he and a lawyer pulled a great ploy -- they sued IHSAA, the Indiana state high school athletic association -- and while the case was playing out -- Angel completed his eligibility, getting several decent scholarship offers, but jumping at the one from Josh Pastner to go to Memphis in the Post-Calipari era, where the roster was depleted and Garcia was likely to get plenty of immediate playing time.

But then even more twists and turns, first he couldn't clear the NCAA Clearinghouse -- so he missed 2008-2009 almost the same reason he couldn't stay at Lake Forest.
Then in 2009-2010, an injury then a desire to play away from the basket and not be a post player -- killed the chances he had of getting playing time...
He considered redshirting to get well from the knee injury, then came back and played the final month of 2009-2010 because of the player shortage and opportunity.

BUT -- now this year is a different thing...
Now Memphis, after a tremendous recruiting year is way, way deeper, and least of all do they need a 6-10 guy who hits only 30% of his shots because he plays away from the basket.
So -- 8 games into his 3rd year at Memphis, after all the twists and turns, and with Angel Garcia only averaging 13 minutes per game, and 6 ppg, he up and quits after agreeing to a contract with a European team.
Honestly -- Memphis will barely notice his absence -- they have the depth that they won't miss him...
http://www.gotigersgo.com/sports/m-baskbl/mtt/garcia_angel00.html

But here's the odd part -- ESPN's Andy Katz thinks this is maybe one of the worst things to happen to college basketball in all of history!
http://is.gd/iKKSb

He even copmpares it to Iowa State's loss of Lucca Staiger and same for a guy named Christian Drejer...
Now, Katz says this is a really disturbing trend!!!

Gimme a break -- this is a real rarity and seems to only occur when NCAA jacks these Euro kids around and makes then sit out a year or more...so what do you expect...you think these kids feel loyalty or bonding with the NCAA?
Nope -- if they get a decent pro contract they are going to take it but I think the sport can withstand this trend.

Given that the coach can choose not to play the kid (as Pastner has) or can even pull the scholarship out from under him, why can't the kid keep his own options open and choose what's best for himself and family?

I think Katz is making a mountain out of a true mole hill -- and that this issue is minor and he's the only one who really even notices..
BUT -- even so it's simply not happening enough to anyone of significance, that it won't have a detectable effect on US college or pro ball.