Western Pennsylvania Interscholastic Athletic League

 
He once was the “little kid” on the basketball court at Chartiers Valley. Today, T.J. McConnell is in the NBA. This says enough about McConnell’s talent as a basketball player: He is only the second athlete to be inducted into the WPIAL Hall of Fame in his first year of eligibility. Six years ago, McConnell had one of the best seasons of any high school player in more than 100 years of WPIAL basketball. McConnell scored 1,062 points as a senior, the most in a season in WPIAL history. The only other WPIAL boy to score 1,000 in a season was legendary Don Hennon in 1955. McConnell averaged 34 points a game as a senior, the second-best in the WPIAL in the past 30 years. McConnell won 101 games at Chartiers Valley and finished his career as the WPIAL’s fifth all-time leading scorer with 2,404 points and is second in career 3-pointers with 334. He played for two seasons at Duquesne University, where he was named the Atlantic 10 Conference Freshman of the Year. He played his final two college seasons at the University of Arizona, where he was the point guard on two NCAA Elite 8 teams and was an all-Pac 12 selection. He made the NBA’s Philadelphia 76ers this season and is one of the few point guards ever from the WPIAL to make the NBA.