Napier Out-Duels Pressey at Nationals
Shabazz Napier has been on a tear this week for Metro Boston.
As of early Thursday night Metro Boston was the only New England squad still alive in the championship bracket of AAU’s u17 Nationals and Napier’s stellar play was a big reason why.
The rising junior from Lawrence Academy has played to rave reviews from national media outlets all week long, but he was never reportedly better than in a Tuesday afternoon match-up with Phil Pressey and Team Texas.
Pressey, as many remember is a former New England product, who left Cushing Academy just prior to his senior year to transfer to a school in Texas. He’s an absolute wizard with the basketball and widely considered one of the top point guard prospects in the country.
Pressey and Napier went head to head on Tuesday afternoon as Metro Boston scored an upset victory over Team Texas to win their pool and earn a bye in the first round of the championship bracket.
“Napier got the best of highly touted 2010 guard Phil Pressey in this matchup,” it said plainly on hoopsreport.com.
Napier also earned high praise from two of the most respected national analysts in the recruiting business, in Scout.com’s Dave Telep and ESPN’s Paul Biancardi.
Biancardi liked what he saw from the Massachusetts point guard, calling him a “rising junior with the ability to score and run a team” while also noting his great feel for the game.
Telep praised Napier for being a confident ball-handler, making sound decisions, getting by his man, and demonstrating range and accuracy with his jumper…nothing new to those who have watched him all year.
Napier’s list of followers grew on Wednesday after getting the better of Pressey the day earlier.
He was tailed on Wednesday by UMass head coach Derek Kellogg, St. John’s head coach Norm Roberts, and assists from Villanova, UConn, Kentucky, Texas A&M, Rutgers, and Virginia according to Scout.com.
But with Metro Boston continuing to win games and their point guard continuing to impress, that list only continues to grow as the week goes on.
Shabazz Napier