AAC Basketball: 25 best players from last decade (2013-23)

1. Shabazz Napier

We’re ending things off with yet another player who played just a single season in the AAC, but it was quite the storybook ending for Napier. A 6’1 guard from Roxbury, Massachusetts, Napier was a freshman bench piece on Connecticut’s national championship-winning team in 2011 and would stay the full four seasons with the program. As many already know, that wasn’t the only time Napier would cut down the nets for the Huskies.

As a senior, Napier averaged 18.0 points, 5.9 rebounds, and 4.9 assists for the Huskies in his third season as their starting point guard. He had a triple-double against Yale early in the season but had some great performances in much more important games later in the season. We’re not talking about his career-high 34-point outburst against Memphis in February, we’re talking about leading Connecticut to another national championship in March and early April, with 22 points in the championship game over Kentucky.

Among his honors for a legendary senior season, Napier was a First Team All-American, AAC Player of the Year, winner of the Bob Cousy Award (given to the best point guard in the nation), and most importantly was NCAA Tournament Most Outstanding Player. He’s a rare example of a two-time national champion and he was arguably the best player in the first year of the AAC’s existence, with impressive numbers scoring and distributing the ball. It was quite the ending to his college career and quite the turn of events for Connecticut.