Most of the players at the adidas ABCD basketball camp at Fairleigh Dickinson in Teaneck say it has been a dream of theirs to attend it since virtually the time they started playing hoops.

Not so with Jose Garcia.

“I am just happy to be in America,” said the muscular 6-foot-4 Garcia, who played last year at Holy Cross Regional HS in Lynchburg, Va. “I’m happy to be alive.”

The 17-year-old junior was born in Angola, which has long been involved in a civil war. His parents were murdered when Garcia was still an infant and he was brought up in an orphanage before moving to Belgium to live with his older sister. Garcia didn’t learn of his parents’ fate until he was 11.

“My father was an officer in the army and the people that were trying to take over killed him and my mother in my house,” said Garcia, who speaks seven languages and has already drawn interest from ACC schools. “My father thought something might happen, so he had me and my sister stay with my uncle before it happened.”

His sister, Regina, eventually moved to Belgium when she was 18 and Garcia soon followed her.

“There were times when I was down and my sister would tell me that I should be glad that I was no longer in Angola, where people were still dying,” Garcia said. “I appreciate everything now.”

He was discovered while playing for his Belgian high school team in France. He had to move back to Angola for eight months to get a passport, since he was a refugee in Belgium. He now lives with his AAU coach.

“I still don’t know what I want to do next year for school,” said Garcia. “But I know I will go to college and playing against these guys will help me.”

Joakim Noah had quite a different journey to Teaneck. The son of former tennis star Yannick, the 6-foot-9 Joakim had an excellent debut yesterday, scoring 11 and grabbing seven boards.