Napier traded tough times for good times
arlington, texas » The lone first-team All-American on the courtMonday night for the national championship game at AT&T Stadium will be a fourth-year player— which seems to be a rarity these days.
Shabazz Napier, Connecticut’s lightningquick senior point guard, could have turned pro earlier, as somany blue-chippers onKentucky’s roster are sure to do.
“I made a promise,” Napier said during Final Four interviews.
Two promises, in fact. Napier told his mother, Carmen Velasquez, he would earn a degree at UConn. He will get the diploma in May. Napier also told his teammates a year ago he would be there for them this season. Connecticut was banned from postseason play in 2013 because the team’s academic progress report (APR) fell belowtheNCAA’s line of demarcation.
“We have been in a lot of dogfights,” the 6foot-1Napier said.“We’ve gone through a lot. We’ve been pointing to this (championship game) for a long time.”
A top reserve as a freshman on UConn’s 2011 national championship team, Napier’s game reflects the toughness of the Roxbury, Mass., neighborhood near Boston where he grew up.
Fortunately, he was able to avoid other influences.
“Iwas raised in the inner city,” Napier said. “My mother raised three kids as a single mom. She didn’t go to college, but she recently got herGED(high school diploma), which I’m very proud of her.” Times were tough, Napier recalled. “Just like any other kid in the inner city, I hoped I could help out my family by playing the game of basketball,” Napier said. “Hopefully, I can make it allwork financially. That’s what I worked for. That’s what I believed in.
“My mother has been my biggest motivation. She has inspired me since she put a bas- ketball in my hands at the age of 5½. She always believed something good was going to come out of this family.”
Napier must be making his mother feel proud. He is averaging 21 points, 5.4 rebounds and 4.8 assists for five NCAA Tournament games during this remarkable run for the seventh-seeded Huskies (31-8). But itwas the defense of Napier and backcourt teammate Ryan Boatright that provided the difference Saturday night in UConn’s 63-53 national semifinal win over top-seeded Florida.
Kentucky (29-10) may pose an even bigger challengeMonday night. Literally. TheWildcats’ twin freshmen, Aaron and AndrewHarrison, are 6-6 and about 215 pounds. Aaron has hit three consecutive game-winning jumpers in the span of eight days. Napier and the 6foot Boatright must keep in front of them and prevent the twins from driving the lane.
If anybody can figure out what works, it’s Napier, said second-yearUConn coachKevin Ollie, a former Huskies point guard who played 13 years in the NBA.
Napier became the first player in UConn history to score more than 1,700 career points and record more than 600 assists.
“Shabazz has taken ownership of his team,” Ollie said. “On the basketball court, he’s a great leader. He wants the ball in his hands.” three-year contract based upon his draft position and then can negotiate a fatter salary in year four.
If the NBA extends its minimum age requirement to 20 and blue-chippers remain in college for two years, “then take one of those (three locked-in) contract years away so the kids will still get their (big) money at the same time,” he said.
TheNCAAmust do its part, Calipari said, by funding “disability” insurance for players who choose to stay in school beyond one year. The intent of that insurance policy would cover the loss of a player’s projected position in the upcomingNBAdraft if he gets injuredwhile in college.
It remains to be seen if those proposals gain enough traction to be considered. In the meantime, Calipari and other coaches say they will continue to seek the best recruits available.
InKentucky’s case, success breeds success. Blue-chippers believe that in the span of less than 12 months underCalipari they can compete for a national championship and likely become a first-round draft pick.
Calipari points out that his current team carries a collective B average academically.
“Does a player have to be here to be a terrific ‘college player?’ ” Calipari said. “They’re college students; they’re just not college students for four years in some cases.”
To those who say Kentucky may have a huge advantage by becoming an “NBA factory,” Calipari might reply that one can only imagine if 6-foot-10 Anthony Davis, the most outstanding player in the 2012 Final Four, had been a junior on the Wildcats team that will be playingMonday night for the national championship.
“We’re going to get the media off ‘one and done’ because it has such a bad connotation,” Calipari said. “The thing we’ve been talking about is ‘succeed and proceed.’ Succeed (at the college level) and then proceed (to the pros). It will be onT-shirts: ‘Succeed and Proceed.’ ”
Kentucky players were wearing them Sunday on the way to a practice.