Connecticut star Shabazz Napier went full Richard Sherman after winning the NCAA championship, using his nationally televised interview with Jim Nantz to vent about a past slight, then getting cut off before ending his impassioned rant. 
 
 Connecticut’s senior guard was asked to describe his feelings about winning the title, but instead tried to quiet the crowd by begging for their attention. Once satisfied, Napier launched into a brief rant about the NCAA’s banning of UConn from the 2013 tournament because of poor academic performance. 
 
 “Ladies and gentlemen, you’re looking at the hungry Huskies, this is what happens when you ban us, last year, two years, we worked so hard for it, two years –” 
 
 At that point, Napier abruptly ended his message and CBS cut to a shot of fans. Nantz coolly by congratulating Napier on winning the Most Outstanding Player award, then threw it to commercial. 
 
 Like Richard Sherman in his infamous rant after the NFC championship, Napier didn’t say anything that wasn’t safe for television and his comments were fairly tame, in retrospect. Though the decision to cut away was understandable, it would have been far better television to let him keep going. 

 Shabazz Napier has become one of the poster boys of the 2014 NCAA Tournament. Besides being a fantastic asset on both ends of the floor for the No. 7 seed Huskies, Napier has been an inspiring leader as a 6-foot-1 senior guard. 
 
 But now Napier has contributed an interesting tidbit off-the-floor as Shabazz has been quoted in a story that was showcased in a CNN.com article on Monday. The original interview was conducted last week and posted on Fox Sports. 
 
 “I don’t feel student-athletes should get hundreds of thousands of dollars, but like I said, there are hungry nights that I go to bed and I’m starving,” Napier said to reporters. 
 
 When the senior was asked if he felt like an employee, the Huskies point guard said, “I just feel like a student-athlete, and sometimes, like I said, there’s hungry nights and I’m not able to eat and I still got to play up to my capabilities. … When you see your jersey getting sold — it may not have your last name on it — but when you see your jersey getting sold and things like that, you feel like you want something in return.” 
 
 With the recent ruling for the Northwestern football players union in the NLIB, the attention has turned to the players participating in the NCAA Tournament. 
 
 Connecticut lawmakers have noticed Napier’s remarks, according to CNN. Since Northwestern is a private school, they can go through other means that state-funded schools like UConn cannot do at the moment. 
 
 State Rep. Matthew Lesser and other state lawmakers are considering legislation that would allow athletes at the University of Connecticut to unionize, Lesser said. Unlike at Northwestern, a private institution governed by the National Labor Relations Board, Connecticut law governs whether employees at a public institution can unionize. “He says he’s going to bed hungry at a time when millions of dollars are being made off of him. It’s obscene,” Lesser said. “This isn’t a Connecticut problem. This is an NCAA problem, and I want to make sure we’re putting pressure on them to treat athletes well.” 
 
 Napier still has a season to focus on, but this quote certainly doesn’t make anybody feel better about the fair treatment of NCAA student-athletes in light of all of the recent rulings. Will athletes like Napier be able to help usher in changes to the NCAA system? 
 
 Follow @phillipshoops 

 Story highlights Student-athlete handbook says meals provided between 7 a.m. and 7:15 p.m. 
 
 University of Connecticut guard tells reporters he sometimes goes to bed "starving" 
 
 Remarks were in reaction to decision to allow Northwestern players to unionize 
 
 Northwestern has appealed last month's decision to national labor board office 
 
 He's one of the best basketball players in the country, and he led his team to victory in Monday night's NCAA championship game. But the University of Connecticut's Shabazz Napier recently told reporters he sometimes goes to bed "starving" because he can't afford food, despite that UConn's student-athlete guidelines include provisions for meal plans. 
 
 The remark got the attention of state lawmakers in Connecticut, who are now exploring legislative ways to allow athletes at UConn, a state institution, to unionize -- much like athletes are attempting at Northwestern University 
 
 Rep. Matthew Lesser said he and other state lawmakers are considering legislation. Unlike at Northwestern, a private institution governed by the National Labor Relations Board, Connecticut law governs whether employees at a public institution can unionize. 
 
 "He says he's going to bed hungry at a time when millions of dollars are being made off of him. It's obscene," Lesser said. "This isn't a Connecticut problem. This is an NCAA problem, and I want to make sure we're putting pressure on them to treat athletes well." 
 
 Napier recently called the Northwestern union ruling "kind of great" and said that although he appreciates his basketball scholarship, it doesn't cover all of his expenses. 
 
 "I don't feel student-athletes should get hundreds of thousands of dollars, but like I said, there are hungry nights that I go to bed and I'm starving," he said. 
 
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 Asked whether he felt like an employee -- a key distinction cited in the labor board's Northwestern ruling -- the Huskies point guard responded, "I just feel like a student-athlete, and sometimes, like I said, there's hungry nights and I'm not able to eat and I still got to play up to my capabilities. ... When you see your jersey getting sold -- it may not have your last name on it -- but when you see your jersey getting sold and things like that, you feel like you want something in return." 
 
 The Huskies played the University of Kentucky Wildcats in the NCAA men's basketball finals in Arlington, Texas, on Monday night. Connecticut won 60-54, fueled by a game MVP performance from Napier, who had 22 points, six rebounds and three assists. 
 
 UConn's student-athlete handbook lays out provisions for dining and says athletes can eat in any residence hall between 7 a.m. and 7:15 p.m. 
 
 "If you live off campus and your grant-in-aid includes meals, you may use your stipend to purchase an on-campus meal plan. ... This will entitle you to eat in any of the facilities," the handbook states (PDF). 
 
 Phil Chardis, a spokesman for UConn athletics, issued a statement to that effect, telling CNN that "Napier, like all our scholarship athletes, is provided the maximum meal plan that is allowable under NCAA rules. UConn does not have a cafeteria devoted specifically to student-athletes, but they have access to the same cafeterias which are available to all our students." 
 
 The comments come after a flurry of chatter about Northwestern football players challenging the long-established NCAA amateur model. 
 
 Last month, the National Labor Relations Board ruled that Northwestern football players should be considered employees because of the hours they put in, the control the university has over them and the revenue they generate. 
 
 But reaction was mixed, even among those who support NCAA reform. 
 
 On Saturday, for the first time, two leaders on the Northwestern team said after a spring practice that they won't vote to unionize, and head coach Pat Fitzgerald said he told his players he didn't believe a union was in their best interest. 
 
 Hours later, NCAA President Mark Emmert called the idea "grossly inappropriate." 
 
 "It would blow up everything about the collegiate model of athletics," he said. 
 
 The players at Northwestern, led by former quarterback Kain Colter and Ramogi Huma, founder of the National College Players Association and the College Athletes Players Association, say they want better medical coverage, concussion testing, four-year scholarships that cover the entire cost of attendance and the possibility of being paid. 
 
 Northwestern is appealing the ruling to the National Labor Relations Board national office and maintains that student-athletes are not university employees but "students, first and foremost." 
 
 Huma has said the Northwestern ruling would have national implications, but he would not talk about whether other schools' teams were planning to hold union votes. 
 
 At private schools like Duke and Stanford, the process would be similar to the path taken by Northwestern's players. There have been indications that officials at those schools are closely monitoring what happens at Northwestern. 
 
 However, at public schools, the process would vary from state to state.
– Shabazz Napier's star performance in last night's NCAA championship game is drawing attention to comments made last week that further stoke the debate over whether to pay student athletes. Napier was last week asked about the National Labor Relation Board's ruling that Northwestern football players were employees who could unionize. Napier said he didn't think he was an employee, and didn't want "hundreds of thousands of dollars," but did think he should be paid, NBC reports: "Sometimes, there's hungry nights where I'm not able to eat," he said. "When you see your jersey getting sold, to some credit, you feel like you want something in return … There are hungry nights when I got to bed and I'm starving." His comments are drawing attention now because CNN featured them in an article yesterday, reporting that they'd inspired Connecticut lawmakers to try to allow UConn to unionize. "He says he's going to bed hungry at a time when millions of dollars are being made off of him. It's obscene," one rep said. "This isn't a Connecticut problem. This is an NCAA problem." Napier also made some waves with his postgame comments last night, in which he loudly criticized the NCAA's ban on UConn for poor academic performance. "Ladies and gentlemen, you're looking at the hungry Huskies," he told the crowd, according to USA Today, before he got cut off. "This is what happens when you ban us."