PUR - Boricuas take aim at Shabazz

STORRS (NCAA/FIBA Basketball World Cup) - Puerto Rico boast a couple of experienced and talented guards in Jose Barea and Carlos Arroyo.

Don't be surprised if the Boricuas have another exciting playmaker in their squad as well when the national team shows up to compete at the 2014 FIBA Basketball World Cup in Spain.

The Puerto Ricans are eager to welcome Shabazz Napier, one of the top guards in American college basketball at the University of Connecticut, into the fold.

Puerto Rico coach Paco Olmos and director of operations Alfredo Morales went to visit Napier and see him in action this week.

Before their visit, Morales said to the Puerto Rican media: "We will be very aggressive trying to recruit him.

"We recognize the caliber of player he is and want him to be part of our team in 2014."

Napier, who hails from Massachusetts, qualifies to play for Puerto Rico because his maternal grandparents were born in the country.

The senior playmaker at the UConn has enjoyed some huge moments in his Huskies career, including a couple this season that made headlines in America.

He had a 27-point performance in a November win over Indiana, and a 26-point effort in a victory over the Florida Gators at the beginning of December.

Napier made a difficult go-ahead lay-up against the Hoosiers that accounted for the last points of that contest, while against Florida he drilled a buzzer-beating, game-winning jumper from the free-throw line.

The 22-year-old didn't have his best effort against Stanford this week, with Olmos and Morales in attendance.

He played 39 minutes and had 12 points, eight assists, five rebounds and a couple of steals in a 53-51 home defeat.

Napier missed a couple of potential go-ahead three-pointers in the last minute, and his coach, Kevin Ollie, said after: "I wanted him to go to the basket.

"With Shabazz, you live with that, because he's put this team on his back a lot of times.

"But he could have taken it to the basket a couple of times, but he settled for the long three ball.

"And that wasn't going in tonight, so you have to make adjustments as a player."

Napier conceded he had not made the right decision.

"I felt like I had two open threes and coach was stressing go to the basket," he said.

"As you can see, I didn't go. I should have."

The games that will be more important come later in the season for UConn, one of American college basketball's powerhouses.

They will be looking to qualify for the NCAA Tournament.

FIBA