Connecticut point guard Shabazz Napier was well on his way to gaining some experience this summer as a member of Puerto Rico’s national team.
But a foot injury forced the rising junior to turn down a roster spot, and according to Kevin Duffy of the Connecticut Post Napier will spend the next six weeks with a walking boot on his right foot.
According to the report this is an issue that plagued Napier for much of the 2011-12 season, and the “symptomatic discomfort” made it necessary for Napier to not play with Puerto Rico this summer.
This is another piece of bad news for a program that won’t be able to compete in postseason play due to sanctions related to their low APR scores.
With the players who have left, and just about all of the departures were front court players, this is a big off-season for both Napier and Ryan Boatright.
Boatright participated in the CP3 Elite Guard Camp, and an experience such as that one can prove beneficial to those who take part.“I knew the top guards in the country would be there and then I saw the list of names, so I expected it to be tough, but Kemba (Walker) was up here the week before I was going, and he went when he was in college,” Boatright said.
“Kemba told me that this camp is actually work --- you have to put in hard work, drills and workouts. Some camps you go to, you can go through the motions and just get the gear, but it wasn’t like that at the CP3 Camp.”
With a team that will be quite young (and lacking depth in some key areas) a lot of the responsibility will fall upon the shoulders of Boatright and Napier.
While Napier can go through “mental reps” by watching tape over the next six weeks, this injury cuts into some valuable on-court time for both he and his teammates.
Raphielle is also the assistant editor at CollegeHoops.net and can be followed on Twitter at @raphiellej.