Ryan Murken

Your Prep Sports

IOWA CITY – Before he ever played a high school game Patrick McCaffery was already being labeled a budding star.

The 6-foot-8 son of Iowa head coach Fran McCaffery was a college prospect before his first day of classes at perennial prep power West High.

In fact it was long-time West High coach Steve Bergman that first got McCaffery to understand just how bright of a future he had as a prep player.

“Coach Bergman sat me down my eighth grader summer and told me that I had a chance to be the best player to every go through the school and that kind of really stuck with me throughout all my years,” McCaffery said. “He’s not an easy man impress, he’s a tough guy to please so to have that high praise from him really meant a lot to me going into my high school career.”

Some players wilt under the weight of heavy expectations.

Not McCaffery who soared past even the loftiest of goals during an impressive prep career in which he became the all-time leading scorer in West High history.

McCaffery averaged a career-high 25.1 points as a senior, set a single-game scoring record with 42 points in a win over Cedar Rapids Washington and closed his career with a school-record 1,550 points.

For all his accomplishments McCaffery has been named the 2019 Your Prep Sports boys basketball player of the year.

“His numbers this year, I don’t think we’ve ever had anyone have numbers like that,” Bergman said. “There are numbers and then there are numbers that are efficient and he had those.”

The numbers that Berggman references paint a picture of dominance for McCaffery in his final prep season.

His career-best 25.1 points per game came on 58 percent shooting from the field that included a career-best 45 percent from 3-point range.

McCaffery ranked increased his scoring average in all four seasons as West High punctuated by his staggering senior season in which he ranked third in 4A in scoring.

“He shot it better this year and he worked really hard on that, he was over 40 percent from 3 and didn’t probably take enough 3s,” Bergman said. “He got a little stronger, he got better every year.”

As rangy 6-foot-9 forward perimeter shooting wasn’t always at the center of McCaffery’s offensive arsenal.

However, the success McCaffery had from 3-point range as a senior embodies his career.

A 27 percent 3-point shooter over his first three seasons McCaffery dedicated the final offseason of his high school career to improving that number.

That work showed up as he made a career-high 24 triples on his lowest number of attempts since his freshman season.

“It was just shooting, I shot a lot,” McCaffery said. “The frustrating thing was that I would make them in practice and when I shot around I would never miss but in games I was getting a lot of shots that were in and out. I made a few tweaks on my release and it got my confidence up. I started off the season shooting well and I ended up shooting a lot better than I had before.”

McCaffery was as consistent as he was dominant as a senior.

He scored at least 12 points in every game, had 20 or more points in 18 of 22 games including four games with 30 or more.

McCaffery also averaged a career-high 7.6 rebounds and had five double doubles while ranking third on the team with 2.5 assists per game.

“I always knew that my teammates had the utmost confidence in me whether I was making shots or missing shots they are always going to stay with me,” McCaffery said. “Having everyone put that trust in me this year really meant a lot.”

Perhaps the thing McCaffery was most synonymous with during his prep career was winning.

West High went 82-18 during McCaffery’s four-year career with four trips to the state tournament, three title game appearances and a Class 4A championship in 2017.

Of all the scoring records and awards nothing during his career meant as much to McCaffery as the state title.

“The state championship and it’s not even close,” McCaffery said of his top prep moment. “Anytime you win a state championship it’s amazing but the special thing about that was we had a great group of guys and a great comradery on that team.”

With his days a prep player in the rearview mirror McCaffery turns his attention to the future. An Iowa signee he will join his older brother Connor on the Hawkeye roster starting this summer.

“I can’t wait, it’s something that I have been looking forward to for a long time,” Patrick McCaffery said. “High school was a great chapter for me, we had a lot of success and I had a lot of fun but this is where it gets real. This is what I have been dreaming about my whole life. I can’t wait to get started.”

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