UConn's top returning scorer sidelined by foot surgery

Napier is the key to UConn's season ahead. He's expected to be good to go by the start of the season. (US Presswire)

Shabazz Napier, Connecticut's leading returning scorer, will be sidelined for the next several weeks while he recovers from surgery performed to repair a stress fracture in his right foot, the school announced Monday.

So now the Huskies' coach and best player are both banged up.

And practice starts in about a month.

The good news for UConn is that Napier is expected to be available by the start of official practice on Oct. 13, but where he'll be in terms of conditioning is unclear. Meantime, Jim Calhoun's status is also unsettled. The Hall of Fame coach fractured his left hip last month and remains hobbled. Calhoun said last week that he'll probably decide "within the next two weeks" whether to keep coaching or retire. So the country anxiously awaits that announcement while Napier, who averaged 13.8 points and 5.8 assists last season, continues to heal like his coach, and doesn't it just seem like there's always something going on in Storrs?