And, if you mention Port Elizabeth in the presence of St. Patrick’s Principal Joe Picaro, be ready to retract those words and also the direction in which you take your next step.

"We’re 2 1/2 blocks from [Newark Bay], and it’s Elizabethport," says Picaro. "We opened in 1863 as a two-year school and became a four-year school in 1868.

"The legendary Buzzy Fox and Jerry Molloy have coached here, and we’re proud of our tradition."

Picaro is also proud of his school’s modern-day boys basketball machine, one which has produced such NBA players as Al Harrington and Samuel Dalembert, along with renowned college stars such as Shaheen Holloway and Corey Fisher. It continues to send its All-State players to major college conferences around the country on an annual basis.

When standout junior guard Kyrie Irving transferred to St. Pat’s from Montclair Kimberley Academy in early May, he was switching from a private school rated near the top of any list in the state in terms of its academic stature, to a school where the No. 1 attraction for a select group of student-athletes is undoubtedly the national-level scholastic hoops program, as its veteran and candid coach Kevin Boyle continues to try and keep in step with chief rival, the legendary Bob Hurley at St. Anthony of Jersey City.

St. Anthony was undefeated at 32-0 and No. 1 in the nation last winter, beating St. Pat’s along the way in a much-anticipated Non-Public, North B final, but Boyle’s Celtics have had the better of Hurley’s Friars for the most part in recent seasons. And the talented hoops squad from Elizabethport ruled the Garden State hardwood with back-to-back New Jersey Tournament of Champions titles in 2006 and 2007.

When asked about the arrival of Irving near the end of this past school year at the historic building located at 221 Court Street, Picaro was quick to reply: "Kevin will talk about Kyrie when the [Star-] Ledger writes about the two kids Hurley got from New York City."

Picaro was referring to the news this past spring that St. Anthony picked up both 6-8 Ashton Pankey (a transfer from Archbishop Molloy in Queens, who left Jack Curran, an NYC hoops coaching legend) and 6-7 Devon Collier (from All Hallows in The Bronx) in the off-season.

While there could be questions regarding the off-the-court character of Pankey, who was allegedly caught with a stolen cell phone at Molloy, and Collier, who was suspended for eight games last winter after getting in an altercation with a former teammate, Irving is, by all accounts, as solid a citizen as they come in today’s elite, scholastic basketball world, where exposure to the hoops rating services begins in grammar school and is at a fever pitch by the time the youngster reaches the eighth grade.

Picaro and Boyle either got their signals crossed, or just never conversed any further about discussing Irving’s arrival at St. Pat’s. Regardless, more than a week after my phone conversation with Picaro, Boyle returned a call and was more than willing to talk about his latest addition, now that the talented former MKA star is fully ensconced in Betsytown for his final two years as the newest member of the Celtics.

"I didn’t speak to Kyrie before he arrived at St. Patrick’s," said Boyle, when asked about his prior contact with the ex-MKA standout, who averaged 26.7 points per game as a sophomore at the Essex County private school. "We had heard rumors late last season that he might be transferring here, but we never talked then or before he arrived at school here.

"[New Jersey Roadrunners AAU coach] Sandy Pyonin told me a lot about Kyrie since he had coached him with the Roadrunners and coached against him when [Solomon] Schechter played MKA.

"Sandy also told me that Kyrie is just a great kid and he is someone who has a tremendous future in the game. Kids and their parents decide to go to schools for all different reasons. St. Patrick’s is a small school with a lot of personal interaction with teachers and small classes. Some kids like that.

"How come there are no eyebrows raised when a youngster who is talented in music decides to transfer to the Julliard, or someone seeking a strong English curriculum decides to attend school with a strong department in that subject?"

Pyonin, who once drove around ill-fated, ex-Elizabeth star Luther Wright in his station wagon, taking the then-future Seton Hall University and Utah Jazz center to games and practices all over the metropolitan area, has been a fixture with the Roadrunners on the AAU scene for more than 20 years. He is always quick to remind those in his presence about his close association to players such as Wright and Harrington.

When it comes to Irving’s potential, Pyonin is direct and to the point.

"Kyrie has a chance to play in the NBA someday," Pyonin said during an interview in his office this past winter. "He is an immensely talented and gifted young man, a good student and he comes from a solid family support system.

"I don’t get involved in telling kids where to go to school. I leave that totally up to the parents. In Kyrie’s case, his dad [Drederick Irving] played at a high level at Boston University and has a solid feel for what he needs to do for his son when it comes to school and everything else."

Drederick Irving has not returned calls or answered e-mails regarding his son’s transfer to St. Patrick’s, which occurred less than a month before the end of the school year.

An individual close to the New Jersey AAU scene, who requested anonymity, said that Drederick Irving and Boyle misinterpreted the new transfer rule which, starting Sept. 1, 2008, increases the length of time an athlete must sit out when switching schools without a change of address from 30 days to one year.

Boyle insists there was no contact with the Irvings before the transfer.

As far as confusion over the date of the actual change in the new transfer rule being instituted by the New Jersey State Interscholastic Athletic Association (NJSIAA), there had been some informal conversation among athletic directors and coaches last winter when passage by the NJSIAA’s executive committee cleared the way for the new transfer rule, that the NJSIAA might add stipulations to the rule to discourage mass transfers in April or May.

But, as time moved on and spring settled in, the reality of the matter was that the NJSIAA was simply going to stick by its new transfer rule and live with Sept. 1 as the initial date.

As Bob Baly of the NJSIAA responded last month when reached by me, "We hope that youngsters transfer with academics first in mind. We don’t anticipate a lot of kids transferring to try and beat the implementation of the new one-year rule."

On May 12, MKA Headmaster Tom Nammack issued this statement to the media: "MKA was informed today by Mr. Drederick Irving that sophomore Kyrie Irving has enrolled at St. Patrick’s High School Academy in Elizabeth, N.J. and is currently attending classes there.

"In a phone conversation, Mr. Irving spoke to Dr. David Flocco, MKA head of upper school, regarding Kyrie’s enrollment at St. Patrick’s. As of this morning [May 12], MKA has not received an official and written notice of withdrawal from Mr. Irving, and there has been no request from St. Patrick’s High School for Kyrie Irving’s transcript or school records."

MKA athletic director Todd Smith said on this past Thursday that there is no further update on the Irving situation as far as MKA is concerned.

Meanwhile, while excellent lacrosse players may wind up at Delbarton and great junior high football prospects look to attend Don Bosco Prep, the best in basketball will continue to seek out Boyle and St. Pat’s or Hurley and St. Anthony.

With Irving moving on to St. Pat’s and St. Anthony adding two stud forwards from New York City, perhaps it’s simply further evidence that the NJSIAA should wave its "70 percent in-state rule" in regards to making teams play a majority of their games against New Jersey high schools, and instead allow St. Pat’s and St. Anthony to embark on a national schedule, even more so than what they can put together now.

"We would welcome being able to play St. Anthony twice along with Paterson Catholic and Seton Hall Prep, and then play as competitive an out-of-state schedule as we could possibly put together," said Boyle. "We would prefer more freedom to play who we want, and I think it’s better for many of the parochial schools in our state that don’t have teams at our level, so they can play teams with talent more comparable to their kids.

"I think it would be better for everyone if the state waived the restrictions on who we can play, and simply let us play the strongest schedule we can."

Irving, a silky smooth 6-foot guard, joins a talented cast at St. Pat’s next season which includes University of North Carolina-bound senior guard Dexter Strickland and 6-7 sophomore forward Michael Gilchrest.

Meanwhile, according to hoops recruiting gurus, Rutgers and Seton Hall fans should settle in for a long and protracted recruiting battle over Irving.

"The more we see Irving, who transferred from Montclair Kimberley Academy toward the end of last year, the more impressed we are," said Adam Zagoria on his ZagsBlog, which keeps close tabs on the metropolitan area hoops recruiting scene. "He has already led St. Pat’s to victories at the Hoop Group Showcase at Rutgers and the Hoop Group Team Camp at TCNJ.

"Irving was named the Most Outstanding Prospect at the Hoop Group Elite Camp and was selected to the Top 20 All-Star Game," Zagoria continued. "Rutgers head coach Fred Hill left the Reebok All-American Camp on Thursday to make the one-hour drive to TCNJ in order to watch Irving in the finals of the Team Camp against Boys & Girls of New York.

"Then Thursday night Irving arrived at the Rutgers Barn with Pyonin to watch summer league play. During a spare minute, he took shots with [Rutgers players] Corey Chandler, Hamady N’Diaye and Mike Rosario. Rosario also chatted him up.

"Meanwhile, Irving and his father, Drederick, recently paid a visit to Seton Hall, where they got the full treatment from head coach Bobby Gonzalez. Even after Missouri transfer Keon Lawrence committed to the Pirates, Gonzo called Irving’s father to let him know about it, presumably to let him know SHU was still interested and that the team would be better as a result."

"It was a good visit [to Seton Hall]," Irving said on ZagsBlog. "I talked to Coach Gonzalez. We talked about my scholarship and everything, all the players. I was hanging out with Paul Gause and he took me around campus and showed me a good time.

"This is just the beginning. I think this was my second visit. When I was a freshman I went to St. Joseph’s. I’m just looking for the program that’s going to fit me."

Irving currently has offers from Rutgers, Seton Hall, Memphis, Texas A&M and St. Joseph’s.

Getting back to Irving’s transfer to St. Pat’s, there are reasons for the NJSIAA and its legal counsel to want to avoid further acrimony with lawyers, who would certainly wind up defending transfers who wish to change schools before the implementation of the new one-year rule.

Two cases in the past school year have seemed to quell whatever fighting spirit the NJSIAA had left in its legal department. First, there was the assault case where four Verona football players were accused of being involved in an incident that wound up as a savage beating of a former Seton Hall Prep student in a parking lot at Verona High School last July.

Three of those players transferred to other high schools for the 2007 football season, and the NJSIAA, facing strong opposition from one of the player’s attorneys, ultimately relented, and decided to allow the ex-Verona gridders to play at their new schools after sitting out just 30 days.

Then there was a case involving multiple transfers from schools including St. Mary’s of Rutherford and Bergen Catholic in order to join coach Scot Weaver with the powerhouse wrestling team at Queen of Peace in North Arlington. Again, student-athletes’ families involved in that alleged transfer for athletic advantage argued that NJSIAA penalties preventing the team from competing for Bergen County and NJSIAA team titles were too harsh.

The courts held up the NJSIAA penalties, regardless of how minimal they really were in an individual-oriented sport such as wrestling where District, Region and State tournament competition in Atlantic City are the ultimate showcases.

With questions always existing as to whether or not judges will ultimately rule in the NJSIAA’s favor in any of these cases, and in future ones, who can blame the NJSIAA for taking a proverbial step back, at least in terms of being proactive?

"Unless someone, or a school, is willing to testify when it comes to a transfer, the state’s hands are tied," said Steve King, the athletic director at Eastern Christian and someone who has sat in on many NJSIAA and athletic transfer-rule-related discussions. "The NJSIAA can do just so much."