PITTSBURGH — An unlikely collection of people gathered at the edge of a Consol Energy Center tunnel Saturday night, crowding together for a view of the final minutes of North Carolina State's upset of Villanova.
A couple of reporters, a few ushers, a police officer, a Butler band member or two, arena personnel, Hink the Butler Bulldog mascot.
Smack in the middle stood one of the NCAA tournament's most important players—and one of the most prominent athletes in Notre Dame's legendary history.
With every big shot or turnover, 6'5" Irish senior forward Pat Connaughton—dressed in his game shorts, highlighter yellow Under Armour basketball shoes and a workout tank top—exchanged glances of "Did that just happen?" with the rest of the group. Then he dished out a couple of fist bumps (not to Hink, though), sprinted back toward the locker room and reappeared minutes later with his teammates, ready to add to the Notre Dame record books.
Much to Hink's displeasure, Connaughton did just that, making the two biggest plays in an overtime win over Butler that extended his remarkable Notre Dame career at least one more game. The Irish face Wichita State on Thursday night in a Sweet 16 showdown in Cleveland.
In a sense, Connaughton's ability to flawlessly and instantly glide from one world to another has become his identity.
"He's a pro in college. He's a pro in personality, in poise, in leadership," Irish assistant coach Anthony Solomon said. "If you sit and talk with Pat for the first time, after 10 minutes, you'll feel like you've known him for five years. This is the great thing about him. He's friendly. He understands. He's mature beyond his years.
"He's a unique individual. This is Pat's world."
In Pat Connaughton's world, his best sport is not basketball. Strange, yes, considering how good he is. But after this Irish run ends, the next time you hear about Connaughton likely will be on a sweltering summer night.
Connaughton was chosen by the Baltimore Orioles in the fourth round of the June amateur draft and signed for $428,100. The right-handed pitcher could have signed for nearly $1 million, according to Jeff Goodman's story on ESPN.com, had he not been so insistent about returning to Notre Dame for his senior basketball season.
His father, Leonard, said Pat never hesitated to tell interested MLB teams his intent to return for one more year of Irish hoops.
"He wanted to be out front with everybody," Leonard Connaughton told Bleacher Report. "Baseball probably is in his future, and you want to go into that having been honest with everybody. And, of course, he wanted to be loyal to Notre Dame."
Connaughton spent two months last summer pitching for the short-season Class-A Aberdeen IronBirds, posting a 2.51 ERA in six games. He returned to Notre Dame in late July for basketball practices prior to the team's Italy tour.
The decision may not have paid as much monetarily in the short term, but it paid off in every other possible way, including a business degree and his name all over Notre Dame's record books.
In Saturday's win, Connaughton became Notre Dame's all-time leader in games played with 137. He's one of eight players in school history with at least 1,400 points and 800 rebounds.
But the best number linked to his return this season is 16.
As in Sweet 16.
Notre Dame hadn't reached this round since 2003 and was starting to develop a reputation of a March Madness flop. The 26-5 regular season followed by the ACC tournament title sparked the question: Is this Notre Dame team different?
"We were able to change the mold of the regular season for Notre Dame basketball, so we thought, 'Why can't we do it in the postseason?'" Connaughton said. "If we're going to be the team to change in the regular season, why not win the ACC tournament? ... Now that we're in March Madness, why not be the team to change March Madness for the program overall as well?"
The opening-weekend blues nearly continued for the Irish. After a closer-than-expected win over Northeastern, Notre Dame found itself knotted at 55 with Butler, two seconds remaining, and the Bulldogs in possession.
Butler ran an inbounds play that left Kellen Dunham seemingly open in the corner. Dunham, a team-best 41 percent three-point shooter, looked primed for a starring role in the 2015 "One Shining Moment" video.
Until Connaughton came out of nowhere to hammer Dunham's shot over the cheerleaders and off Hink the Butler Bulldog's paw. His fifth blocked shot of the night became his biggest ever.
"I was making sure that shot didn't get off," he said. "I wasn't gonna foul. I knew I had the body control not to foul. That kid, Dunham, is a fabulous shooter. One of the best in the country. The job Steve [Vasturia] did on him all night, I wasn't gonna let that go to waste.
"I didn't want to see something go down and end this season with this group of guys when I had control of the situation."
But Connaughton wasn't finished yet.
He hadn't shot well all night, missing all five of his three-point attempts and sitting on just four points heading into overtime. But with the game tied at 59 and three minutes left, Connaughton never hesitated when the ball found him open in the right corner. He calmly knocked down his first and only three-pointer of the game—and Notre Dame's most important one.
"The game might not be going the way he would like it personally, but the chest is always out, and the head is always up," Solomon, Notre Dame's assistant coach, said. "Through all of that, he listens well, and he's able to recover from miscues better than any young man I've ever been around."
Irish coach Mike Brey credits Connaughton's success as a pitcher—the experience with having an entire team on your back at the crucial moments—for his knack of making the right play at the right time.
Or perhaps it's something else.
"You talk about a guy being born under the right star, man, it just happens for him," Brey said.
Patrick Bergin Connaughton.
Seriously?
If any college jersey has that last name stretched across the back, Lord knows it needs "Irish" stitched into the front.
"Irish Catholic from Boston," his father said. "Yeah, we had a lot of Notre Dame things around."
But Notre Dame wasn't an option for Connaughton early on. Neither was any other Division I school.
Connaughton, the only child of Leonard and Sue Connaughton, grew up in the Boston suburb of Arlington and lived on sports. Youth sports programs at the Fidelity House helped ignite an athletic career that rolled into St. John's Prep in Danvers, Massachusetts.
At St. John's, Connaughton was a quarterback, pitcher and the school's all-time leading scorer in hoops.
"His leadership, competitiveness and work ethic are second to none," his high school basketball coach, Sean Connolly, said. "No one ever outworked Pat or beat him in any competition in one single practice over the three years that I coached him."
Connaughton, though, had just one offer for basketball—Division II Bentley University—until the AAU summer circuit prior to his senior season. Then interest from D-I schools exploded. Rivals.com ranked him the 128th-best player in the 2011 class and the 29th-best small forward in the country.
Notre Dame beat out Boston College and UCLA, and coaches knew instantly that they landed a unique character in Connaughton.
"It was like talking to a young man when he was a freshman," Brey said.
"He was so mature from day one when he came to campus," Solomon added. "There is a quiet confidence that is so special about him."
Connolly can relate.
"Anytime we weren't playing well and I started yelling, getting on the team in a timeout or halftime, Pat would come up to me and say, 'We got this coach. Don't worry,'" Connolly said. "Next thing you know, Pat was having a conversation with the team, and things would change instantly on the court, and we'd go on a 10-0 run."
Notre Dame has produced seven Heisman Trophy winners, baseball and basketball Hall of Famers, NHL stars and Olympians.
Now, consider that history in athletics when reading the following comment by Brey:
"We've had a lot of great athletes—student-athletes that were ambassadors and powerful personalities at Notre Dame—across football, basketball," he said. "There's no one more powerful than Pat Connaughton as far as how he's represented, the role model he is, the ambassador he is."
And his Notre Dame legacy is not yet complete.
The third-seeded Irish need to get by seventh-seeded Wichita State for the school's first Elite Eight appearance since 1979. There, Notre Dame likely would face undefeated Kentucky with a chance to become college basketball legends.
When asked about his Notre Dame records and, ultimately, his legacy, Connaughton quickly credited his strength coaches and trainers for making sure he stayed healthy, his teammates for putting him on winning teams, his coaches...
That's great, Pat, but how have YOU managed to become one of Notre Dame's most significant athletes ever?
Connaughton paused for a moment.
He leaned back on a folding chair in the corner of Notre Dame's locker room, still in uniform and the clock ticking closer to 1:30 a.m. He'd been answering questions for at least 30 minutes now, the only player still doing so.
"When I was able to come to a school that not only has some of the best athletics but the best academics, I wanted to make sure I didn't let this school down," he said. "I did everything in my power to make this school proud, make the fans proud, make the alumni proud and, most importantly, make my teammates and coaches proud."
And with those words, Pat Connaughton fittingly defined his unique world.
Derek Samson has been an editor and writer in the sports media industry for nearly 20 years. He has worked at Yahoo Sports, USA Today and Sporting News, among other outlets. All quotes for this story were obtained firsthand unless otherwise noted.
