Brendan Connolly, a 6'9" 240 lb center (#52, right) from Father Ryan High School in Nashville has decided to play basketball at Princeton.
Connolly is the sixth publicly-announced member of Princeton's 2009 recruiting class, a group full of talented, versatile big men.
I had a chance to speak with Connolly's high school coach, Doug Bontrager, this afternoon. His quotes about Connolly, plus links to evaluations and accolades can all be found after the jump.
Bontrager, who is in his 22nd season as head coach at Father Ryan, described the Fighting Irish center as a "post player who can step out to 15 or 16 feet, [someone who is] pretty athletic for his size." The Father Ryan coaching staff is working with Connolly to extend his shot to three point range but in Bontrager's words "we're not letting him do that right now."
The veteran coach called Connolly a player who can "play both facing the basket and with his back to the basket."
It sounds like the poised Connoly will complement the quick, slashing forwards in Coach Johnson's second recruiting class. "He's very unselfish and very patient in everything he does," Bontrager said about his center. "Brendan is a methodical and patient player who makes the right decisions...he doesn't put himself in a bad spot and doesn't try to do anything he isn't capable of doing."
Bontrager said Connolly needs to work on his perimeter defense, as he has planted in the paint since a very young age.
Connolly plays his ball in the Tennessee Secondary School Athletic Association's Division II East Middle conference, an all-private school league. In Father Ryan's first game of the 2008-09 season Connolly scored 29 points and grabbed 17 rebounds versus Lipscomb. "He's really hard to guard one-on-one on the high school level," said Bontrager of Connolly's performance.
There is not as much information available on-line about Connolly as there is about the other members of Princeton's 2009 recruiting class. Based on his performance at the 29th Annual Rick Bolus’ High Potential "Blue-Chip" Basketball Camp, Connolly was named one of the top 12 prospects in attendance. tnprephoops.com calls Connolly one of the top 15 players in his region and wrote in August that Connolly "made the most of his summer, playing in enough events to create a little buzz about his ability. At 6-9 and fundamental he can block shots, disrupt shots and grab boards. He has been very well coached in high school and it shows with his positioning and footwork." In the 17-and-under Tennessee AAU state tournament, Connolly's Nashville Gators came in third place, with tnprephoops.com writing that Connolly "showed he was a player to reckon with scoring a bundle of inside hoops and causing havoc on the defensive end. His stock is certainly on the rise." Off the court, Connolly was praised as one of 14 National Merit Commended Students at Father Ryan.
