The interest in St. Patrick guard Kyrie Irving just keeps growing.
Florida called to inquire about getting involved with the 6-1 junior guard, and Notre Dame and Virginia are also interested. They join a list that already includes Memphis, Rutgers, Seton Hall, Texas A&M and St. Joe’s.
A tremendously polished guard with a knack for scoring, Irving was named the Most Outstanding Prospect at the Hoop Group Elite Camp and was selected to the Top 20 All-Star Game. Last season, he led Montclair Kimberley to its first-ever New Jersey Prep ‘B’ State title last season, averaging 26.5 points, 10.3 rebounds, 4. 8 assists and 3.6 steals. He had the two highest scoring totals in New Jersey, dropping in 47 points in one game and 48 in another.
“Our team described him as having a Kobe Bryant-like skill set,” said Eastern Christian coach Barry Veenstra, whose team beat Montclair Kimberley in the Non-Public B state tournament despite 29 points from Irving. “He’s unstoppable one-on-one with the turnaround fadeaway from the corner. He buried one with 6-6 Nate Van Eck in his face. The kid just fades away from the double-team and nothing but net, and you walk to the locker room shaking your head, ‘How do you stop that?’”
“Kyrie has a chance to play in the NBA someday,” Sandy Pyonin, Irving’s AAU coach, told Steve Tober of the Montclair Times. “He is an immensely talented and gifted young man, a good student and he comes from a solid family support system.”
