Lawrence High School basketball sensation Nia Irving said she “fell in love with Boston University when I was in sixth grade.”
Now she will realize her dream by spending four years there beginning in the fall of 2016.
Irving, a three-time Kennebec Valley Athletic Conference Class A Player of the Year and a Bangor Daily News All-Maine first-team selection last season, has verbally committed to attend BU on a full scholarship.
She was an All-Mainer second-team pick two years ago and an honorable mention as a freshman. She has led the KVAC in scoring and rebounding all three years.
The 6-foot-1 Irving, who after her junior season and was named the Maine Gatorade Player of the Year, averaged 22.5 points, 14.6 rebounds, 3.6 assists and one blocked shot per game. She led the Fairfield-based Bulldogs to their first Class A state championship since 1994 this past season.
Lawrence hadn’t played in a state championship game since Cindy Blodgett led the Bulldogs to their fourth straight state Class A title in 1994.
Blodgett is now an assistant coach at Boston University.
Irving said she liked the fact Boston University is in the middle of the city and all the buildings, including the dorms, are all located in the same area along Commonwealth Avenue.
“And when I was in seventh grade, my family and I went to a basketball game and I loved the gym [Case Gymnasium],” said the 16-year-old Irving. “It’s not that big of a gym. It only seats around 2000 people but once you get a good crowd in there, they really get going.”
She said she was also impressed with head coach Katy Steding, who went 5-25 in her first season at BU, and the rest of her coaching staff.
“[Steding] was so nice and Cindy is awesome,” said Irving.
Irving said she chose BU from among six schools with the others being the University of Maine, Fairfield University in Connecticut, the University of Vermont, Siena College in New York and the United States Naval Academy in Maryland.
“BU is pretty lucky,” said Matt Hancock, who has coached Nia with the Maine Maniacs AAU team since sixth grade. “Nia is an amazing player. She is as good as I’ve seen.”
He said in addition to her dominant inside game, she has added a midrange [shooting] game and has dramatically improved her footwork and ball-handling skills.
“She is the closest thing to being unguardable as I’ve ever seen,” said Hancock. “She has the ability to get the ball up the floor and shoot off the dribble. She can use her dribble moves to create shots.”
“She is going to be an important player in their program,” said Lawrence coach John Donato. “She’s six-foot but she plays a little bit bigger. She’s very smart. She can handle the ball like a guard and break you down on the dribble. Not many kids her size can do that.
“She has always played against people bigger than her and she has been successful. She had 34 points as a freshman playing against Bangor’s [six-footers] Mary Butler and Cordelia Stewart. And she can do so much with both hands,” said Donato.
Irving, who underwent knee surgery 13 months ago, scored 27 points in the 50-43 triumph over Thornton Academy of Saco in the state final last winter.
Hancock and Donato both said she is extremely coachable and well-liked.
“She is a fabulous kid to coach,” said Hancock.
“She is a very positive influence on her teammates and in the community,” said Donato.
Irving knows she will be joining a BU program that is in a rebuilding mode.
“I want to help them rebuild. It will be fun. They have a couple of key players coming in next season who can really make a difference so, in a couple of years, it should be a real good team,” said Irving.
She said her next objective in her preparation to attend BU is to “work on my foot speed and extend my game outside a little more. I’m going to be a trail post player at BU. So I want to get faster and be more versatile.”
Irving’s participation at BU is contingent upon her acceptance into the school and meeting NCAA eligibility requirements.