By TOM NOIE South Bend Tribune Staff Writer WSBT-TV

7:52 p.m. EST, January 3, 2012
CINCINNATI — Everything about playing a college basketball game
outside St. Joseph County is like nothing Notre Dame freshman Pat
Connaughton has ever experienced.

Road trips back at St. John’s (Mass.) Prep usually consisted of
hopping a school bus for a 20-minute ride to an area rival, a stop at
a fast-food joint on the return trip and an arrival home at an hour
still conducive for a solid night’s sleep in his own bed.

Now when the Irish hit the road for a game, they leave the day before,
usually by private plane that’s gassed and ready to go so all the team
bus has to do is pull close by before players climb aboard.

“Never done that before,” Connaughton said Monday afternoon. “But
there’s never been anything like, ‘Oh, you’re a freshman, you get the
last seat on the bus or the plane.’

“Everything has been relatively normal, but as a freshman, it’s a
different experience.”

This week’s schedule sent Notre Dame (9-5 overall; 1-0 Big East) on a
four-hour bus ride to Cincinnati (11-3; 1-0) in advance of Wednesday’s
game, the first league road game for Connaughton. The Arlington,
Mass., native has had a solid season to date (7.2 points per game, 4.1