An Achilles tendon injury has sidelined Sharks’ point guard Abdias “Speedy” Carcamo for the past three weeks.
The 19-year-old freshman from Brooklyn, New York has missed several preseason games, practices and the team’s first two regular season games—two Sharks’ victories—versus Florida Memorial University’s junior varsity squad and Miami Sports Academy.
Freshmen James Horton, Alex Sanchez and Marcos Molina Jr. have filled in at point guard for Miami Dade College during Carcamo’s absence. The trio has scored a combined 21 points, all by Horton, in two games but they have committed three shot clock violations.
Carcamo has attended both games, sitting on the sidelines wearing a black sweatsuit. He said after the Sharks’ 83-54 victory versus the War Eagles on Wednesday that he is optimistic about a return to action next week.
“It’s hard right now,” Carcamo said. “But I’m still trying to get back, going to the weight room to do the bike and get my foot right.”
Carcamo started playing basketball at the age of four. He attended Archbishop Molloy High School in Queens, New York where he averaged 12 points and six assists per game as a senior. He spent last year at the Woodstock Academy, a preparatory school in Connecticut. The team did not play any games because of COVID restrictions.
Miami Dade College assistant basketball coach Dillon “DJ” Jenkins, who was looking for a point guard, was notified about Carcamo by a Division I contact he has in the northeast. Jenkins was impressed with the five-foot-10-inch guard’s leadership and ball-handling skills.
“He was everything that we needed and [were looking] for,” Jenkins said. “He’s gonna be a player that plays a lot of minutes for us this year because he doesn’t turn the ball over and knows how to play.”
The Sharks are counting on Carcamo to help them turn the team’s culture around after they finished with a 3-14 record last season. They lost ten of their last eleven games and head coach Kevin Ledoux resigned at the end of the season.
“Speedy is a great teammate,” Horton said. “He’s a great leader. I look up to him as a big brother. It’s a blessing to have him [here].”
Carcamo said moving to Miami has been a culture shock. He is adjusting to the warmer weather and the laid-back atmosphere. On the court, he is aiming to be the top player in the state and hopes to lead the Sharks to the national tournament taking place in Hutchinson, Kansas, from April 19-24.
“He is the kind of kid you build a program around,” Jenkins said. “I wish we could have him for four years because he is what you want in a player [and] as a student-athlete, to represent a university or college.”
