St. John’s Prep bestowed a highly honor upon Pat Connaughton, and he even got to test the court out.
St. John’s Prep is located in Danvers, Massachusetts. This is where Blazers player Pat Connaughton started to rise his professional stock.
As a three-sport star, one area was bound to rise above the rest. It turns out baseball is the sport that landed Connaughton D-I offers at first.
Schools like Boston College, Virginia and his No. 1 choice, North Carolina, all sent an offer his way.
Connaughton the pitcher made waves, but Connaughton the basketball player only had one offer from a D-II school.
Then, as ESPN’s John Goodman describes it, a “spectacular week” in Florida for a basketball tournament put recruiters on notice.
His 33-point, 20-rebound performance in the AAU Nationals eventually led to D-I offers from major schools.
Connaughton told Goodman, “That week completely changed my entire life.”
Patty Fastball made the choice to head to Notre Dame, one of a handful of schools that would let him play both basketball and baseball.
Fast forward years later, and Connaughton returns to St. John’s Prep heading into his third season as an NBA player. He also enjoyed a successful four-year stint at Notre Dame in both sports.
He not only returns to St. John’s an NBA vet, but with a court named after him as well.
In the prep school’s new Wellness Center that opened Friday, we see “Connaughton Court” gleam on the new hardwood:
#voiceoftheeagles in action!! @stjohnsprep @TheNestSJP @sjpathletics pic.twitter.com/QduRzAvroE
— Ed Hardiman (@ehardiman) September 2, 2017
They even let Connaughton try out the new court with a jumper (and dunk) to seal its opening:
First baskets swished & slammed by @PlanetPat5 at #ConnaughtonCourt @stjohnsprep #wellness ctr. Great family event! @ehardiman @TheNestSJP pic.twitter.com/3hYZJJViCE
— Elizabeth Solomon (@MagistraSolomon) September 1, 2017
This is caps a week of good happenings for the shooting guard.
On Aug. 31, the Blazers made the decision to keep him on the roster, guaranteeing his 2017-18 contract. The decision comes after originally pushing back the deadline from July 25.
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Connaughton has career averages of 1.8 points, 1.2 rebounds and 0.5 assists per game in two years with the Blazers.
In 2017-18, he may have a bigger role with Allen Crabbe gone, which could fuel a rise in his presence on the team.