Pat Connaughton, the Portland Trail Blazers rookie shooting guard from Notre Dame, took advantage of the team's recent bonding trip to San Diego to quiz the franchise's premier player, All-Star point guard Damian Lillard.

Casey Holdahl of the team's official website chatted recently with both teacher and student about their exchange:

" 'I think it’s quite obvious why Damian would be a brain you’d want to pick,' said Connaughton. 'For me, it’s about trying to learn as much as I can in this time period leading up to the season. The biggest thing is to pick these guys’ brains, learn how they’ve had success at the NBA level.' ... 'Me and Pat had a bunch of conversations,' said Lillard. 'I can’t believe it’s my fourth year, but having another dude come in as a rookie and he’s asking me questions like I’ve been in the league for 10 years. There’s a lot of stuff I could tell him that he really doesn’t know, which is funny because I can actually say I’ve experienced a lot in my short time.' "

As an Irish senior in 2014-15, Connaughton played 35.6 minutes a game and averaged 12.5 points and 7.4 rebounds. He was also a star pitcher and previously dabbled in minor league ball before signing with Portland.