NEW YORK -- When Kyrie Irving hit the decisive three-point shot in Game 7 of the NBA Finals that helped cement the first NBA championship for the Cleveland Cavaliers, more than 30 former players from his alma mater cheered wildly at the home of Elizabeth (N.J.) St. Patrick's principal Chris Chavannes.

Irving's bond to St. Patrick's -- now officially The Patrick School -- runs deep. And in more ways than one.

Not only is Irving a newly minted NBA champion who serves as a role model for all present and past St. Pat's kids, but he's also helping to keep the tiny Catholic school of 110 students afloat financially.

The Larry O'Brien trophy is headed to Cleveland.

The NBA champions now reside in Northeast Ohio.

But New Jersey is celebrating as well.

Kentucky continues to target Nick Richards as one of its top priorities in the Class of 2017.

"Cal's probably done more in-person visits than anyone else with Nick," St. Pat's coach Chris Chavannes said of Kentucky coach John Calipari Wednesday on The 4 Quarters Podcast.

The 6-foot-11 Richards told SNY.tv last week that Calipari speaks with his family once or twice a week, and that he hopes to visit the campus this summer.

NEW YORK -- When Rutgers offered its coaching job to Rhode Island's Dan Hurley, Cyril Langevine knew there was a chance he could lose his future coach.

A native of Guyana in South America, the 6-foot-8, 225-pound power forward out of St. Patrick's High School committed to Hurley in September. But once again this spring there were rumblings that Hurley might leave for the state University in his home state of New Jersey.

Had Hurley taken the job, Langevine could theoretically have tried to follow him to Rutgers, but he never had to confront that scenario because Hurley turned the job down and the school ultimately hired Steve Pikiell.

A few days after losing to Indiana in the NCAA Tournament, Kentucky coach John Calipari traveled to New Jersey to watch 2017 St. Patrick's big man Nick Richards and 2018 Roselle Catholic big man Naz Reid.

Calipari saw the 6-foot-11 Richards on Monday at St. Pat's and the 6-9 Reiz on Tuesday at Roselle Catholic. Kentucky has already offered Richards, but has yet to offer Reid.

Seton Hall associate head coach Shaheen Holloway also saw Reid on Tuesday, as first reported by Andrew Slater of 247Sports.com.

Bob Hurley says he hasn't yet spoken with his son, Rhode Island coach Dan Hurley, about the Rutgers basketball opening, but believes that the school needs to hire a young, hungry coach who can get after it on the recruiting trail.

Rutgers on Thursday fired 61-year-old Eddie Jordan after three years and Dan Hurley, 43, is considered the No. 1 option to replace him.

"Well, there's work to be done so the person that comes in I think needs to be a younger guy on the way up who is prepared to put the time in to just outwork people," the legendary St. Anthony's coach told me Friday morning by phone as he prepared for Saturday night's Non-Public B state championship game against Roselle Catholic.

RAHWAY, N.J. -- Eight days ago, Nate Pierre-Louis and his Roselle Catholic teammates lost a brutal double-overtime matchup to St. Patrick's in the Union County championship game at Kean University.

But Pierre-Louis said the Lions came out of that game feeling positive about the future -- not full of dread at the heartbreaking defeat that dropped Roselle Catholic to 0-4 in Union County title games.

"We were proud," said Pierre Louis, a 6-foot-3 junior guard. "It wasn't like one of those losses that we were mad about because we really played our hearts out that game."

Roselle Catholic and St. Patrick's will meet for a fourth time this season on Saturday afternoon -- and one team's season will come to an end while the other will remain in position to win the Tournament of Champions.

The New Jersey parochial powerhouses are set to face off for the second time in eight days in the New Jersey Non-Public B South semifinals at 4 p.m. at Rahway High School.

Coached by former Rutgers coach Mike Rice, St. Pat's has won two of the three meetings this season, including last Saturday's thrilling 58-54 double-overtime victory in the Union County championship game.

UNION, N.J. -- There were days, not so long ago, when Mike Rice wondered whether he would ever coach in basketball again.

After all, Rice was fired by Rutgers in 2013 after he was caught on videotape hurling basketballs and homophobic slurs at his players. Amid a scandal that made headlines across America and triggered a national debate about what constitutes abusive behavior by coaches at all levels, Rice was even lampooned by Melissa McCarthy on "Saturday Night Live."

"I'm always a positive thinker, but yes there were questions," Rice told me Saturday night.

UNION, N.J. -- Many high-majors have already reached out to Roselle Catholic's Nate Pierre-Louis, with his list of suitors only growing larger as the Class of 2017, 6-foot-3 point guard continues to play like he did Wednesday night in the Union County Tournament semifinals.

Pierre-Louis, who said postgame that Kansas is the latest to express interest, scored 10 of his team-high 13 points after halftime in Roselle Catholic's 56-46 win over Linden, advancing the Lions to the Union County final against The Patrick School on Saturday night back at Kean University.

It will be the third meeting this season between the two Non-Public B powerhouses, who have already split a pair of games and could meet a fourth time in the South Non-Public B semifinals in March. The Patrick School is ranked No. 2 in New Jersey by NJ.com, while Roselle Catholic is No. 4.

RAHWAY, N.J. -- Entering Wednesday's big tilt with Roselle Catholic, St. Patrick's junior guard Marcus McClary was averaging just 5 points a game.

Celtics coach Mike Rice said he'd be happy if the 6-foot-3, 180-pound guard scored 10 a game.

On this night he went off for 20 points -- including his team's first 12 -- as St. Pat's took care of Roselle Catholic, 46-38, in front of a packed house at Rahway High School.

There are three heavy favorites to win the New Jersey Tournament of Champions title in March: St. Anthony's, St. Patrick's and Roselle Catholic.

Two of those "Big Three" will meet in the span of four days when St. Pat's (10-3) and Roselle Catholic (10-3) essentially play a home-and-home series on Wednesday night (7:30 p.m.) at Rahway High School (where St. Pat's plays its home games) and on Saturday night at Roselle Catholic (7 p.m.).

By Saturday night, fans of Garden State high school hoops may have a clearer picture of where the TOC favorites stand, although St. Anthony's already owns a 60-56 win over St. Pat's at the Dan Finn Classic and remains unbeaten on the season. The Friars are ranked No. 4 nationally by USA Today.

St. Patrick's lost two games in two days over the weekend by a combined 8 points.

The Celtics fell to St. Anthony's, 60-56, on Saturday in the Dan Finn Classic in Jersey City. After traveling up to Springfield, Mass., on Sunday, St. Pat's then lost a tough one to La Lumiere (IN), 62-58, in OT because junior Brian Bowen went off for 29 points.

So on Tuesday night, the Celtics got a visit from a special guest.

JERSEY CITY, N.J. -- Asante Gist was at the first day of practice at his third high school when he suffered a minor injury and Naismith Hall of Fame coach Bob Hurley told him he just might not be cut out for it.

"That's just a little injury, you gotta do better than that," the legendary coach told the 5-foot-9, 180-pound senior who had previously played at Roselle Catholic and Marist High School. "You might not be able to play here."

But Gist took Hurley's words as a challenge and just kept on playing and persevering.

UNION, N.J. -- During St. Anthony's 88-27 destruction of Red Bank Catholic on Sunday at Kean University's Harwood Arena, Mike Rice sat courtside alongside several other college coaches.

Whereas a couple of years ago, Rice might have been scouting St. Anthony's in order to recruit players for the Rutgers men's basketball team, now he was scouting them in a new role.

As the coach of The Patrick School, Rice will go head-to-head with his friend, Naismith Hall of Fame coach Bob Hurley, and his team on Saturday afternoon in the Dan Finn Classic at the Jersey City Armory.

There are 50 states in the union and only one of them has three boys basketball teams ranked in the Top 10 in the nation.

That would be New Jersey where St. Patrick's (5-1), St. Anthony's (5-0) and St. Benedict's Prep (13-0) are currently 7-8-9 in the MaxPreps Xcellent 25 National Boys Basketball Rankings.

And that doesn't even include Roselle Catholic, the defending New Jersey Tournament of Champions winner which dropped out of the poll after listing at No. 13.

NEW YORK -- The Patrick School continued its early-season roll by scoring a decisive 66-51 victory over Thon Maker's Athlete Institute squad to kick off The Grind Session at Baruch College on New Year's Eve Day.

Despite an hour delay because Athlete Institute did not have their uniforms ready, The Patrick School did not waste any time displaying their trademark defensive intensity forcing turnovers on the first three possessions.

"I think that's who this team is," said interim head coach Mike Rice, whose record is now 5-1 as the clock turns to 2016. "They love competing and their instincts now are competing for one another. It's one thing to compete and enjoy it its another to compete when you love to do it together for your teammates."

Patrick School (NJ) defeats St. Louis Chaminade at the buzzer! pic.twitter.com/ODDynAzx77

- Ryan Murphy (@mtxemurph) December 23, 2015

Mike Rice remains undefeated as the interim head coach at The Patrick School.

The former Rutgers head coach guided his team into the championship game of the prestigious City of Palms Classic after junior guard Jordan Walker his this 3-point buzzer-buzzer with 10.2 seconds remaining Tuesday night to lift the Celtics to a 52-49 victory over Duke-bound Jayson Tatum and St. Louis (MO) Chaminade.

FORT MYERS, Fla. -- "Stanford! Stanford," screamed Mike Rice as soon as The Patrick School won the opening tip in their season-opener at the 43rd annual City of Palms tournament.

The former Rutgers coach never let up in a tight contest against Miami (Fla.) Norland and in his first game as the interim head coach, Rice led The Patrick School to a 54-45 victory.

"I was very excited," said Rice. "It was like starting over again. I have a team that kind of fits my personality. Really love working. The urgency, the tenacity, the passion. They play very hard and they practice very hard. I knew we had tremendous preparation. It feels good to get that first one out of the way that's for sure."

Roselle Catholic coach Dave Boff was chatting with his team at practice on Wednesday about their collective goal of winning another New Jersey Tournament of Champions title.

The Lions are the defending TOC champs and have won two of the last three, thanks largely to players like current Kentucky freshman guard Isaiah Briscoe and current Syracuse junior forward Tyler Roberson.

With the high school season in New Jersey set to begin on Friday, the new-look Lions are once again among the favorites to capture the TOC title after adding transfers Leondre Washington (Teaneck), Nate Pierre-Louis (St. Benedict's Prep) and Andre Rafus (Baltimore St. Frances) to a core that included guard Matt Bullock and power forward Naz Reid. They are ranked No. 1 in the The Star-Ledger preseason poll.

In what could turn out to be a George Costanza-style worlds-colliding moment, the current and former coaches of The Patrick School could square off later this month in the prestigious City of Palms Classic in Fort Myers, Fla.

The current coach is none other than former Rutgers coach Mike Rice, while the former coach is Kevin Boyle, now the head man at Montverde (FL) Academy, the No. 1 team in the nation according to USA Today. The two schools are on opposite sides of the bracket for the event which runs Dec. 18-23.

"The interesting thing is that there is a chance we play them in the City of Palms," Boyle said Wednesday on The 4 Quarters Podcast. "We're on one side of the bracket, and they're on the other side of the bracket and I think they have an excellent chance of getting to the championship. We probably have a harder road than them."

Former Rutgers coach Mike Rice is back on the sidelines.

Rice is now the interim head coach at The Patrick School in Elizabeth, N.J., the school that produced current NBA players Kyrie Irving and Michael Kidd-Gilchrist, among others.

The news was first reported by SNY.tv on Sunday afternoon, with ESPN later giving credit.

JERSEY CITY, N.J. -- One afternoon early last week, Georgetown assistant coach Kevin Broadus pulled his rental car into the parking lot at the Community Education and Recreation Center in Jersey City -- the St. Anthony's High School practice facility known as the CERC.

Once inside the gym, Broadus was one of several Division 1 assistant coaches watching an open gym featuring the Friars, the program run during the season by legendary Naismith Hall of Fame coach Bob Hurley.

Georgetown already has one player committed from St. Anthony's in senior guard Jagan Mosely. And the Hoyas probably wouldn't mind adding a few more, either.