Cardinal O’Hara’s Izaiah Pasha, committed to Rick Pitino at Iona, has NBA dreams

When Melinda Laureano found out that her first child would be a boy, she sent a request into the heavens. It didn’t take long to receive an answer.

At 10 months old, Cardinal O’Hara senior Izaiah Pasha could already walk. A few months later, he was running around the house, playing basketball with his mother on a Fisher-Price hoop.

“My mom always wished that I would be a baller since the day I came out,” Pasha said, sitting atop bleachers inside O’Hara’s gym before a recent practice.

“She prayed on it,” said Pasha, who committed to Iona last month. “She had fallen in love with the game because of Allen Iverson.”

Now her son has NBA aspirations and, perhaps, the skill set, measurements, and future college coach to help him get there.

Pasha, a versatile 6-foot-5 wing, is one of the Catholic League’s best, finishing fourth in scoring last season after transferring from Central Dauphin East near Harrisburg, where his mother still lives.

Laureano, however, grew up in North Philly.

She graduated from Kensington High School in 2000, the same year Iverson began his MVP season and led the Sixers to an improbable NBA Finals run.

“I always liked AI. He was even my screensaver on my computer,” Laureano said with laughter in a phone interview. “I just had a huge crush on him growing up.

“I would always say, ‘When I have a child I’m going to have a basketball player.’ It was funny that it just came naturally to [Pasha]. It was a natural thing for him from a young age.”

It still is.

O’Hara coach Ryan Nemetz, now in his fifth season as the lead Lion, says Pasha can be an elite player on both ends.

Pasha averaged 17 points per game in PCL play last year, shot 52% from the field, 42% from behind the three-point line, and added seven rebounds per game.

“I think that’s what made him such a good prospect,” Nemetz said via phone. “I think coaches could see he had things you couldn’t teach: He has a 6-foot-9 wingspan, and the way he can score but also facilitate, he has a high ceiling.”

That skill set combined with those measurements is likely what lured Iona coach Rick Pitino. For Pasha, it was Pitino’s resumé that sealed the deal.

Pasha, 17, had visited several Division I schools but never quite felt a fit. Iona, he said, was going to be his last visit. If it also didn’t feel right, his plan was a year of prep school.

“Once I found out how good of a coach he is, how legendary he is, and all the connections he has, there was no other place I needed to go,” Pasha said. “I had everything [there].”

Pitino, 70, who was inducted into the Naismith Memorial Basketball Hall of Fame in 2013, was fired from Louisville in 2017 amid a federal investigation into corruption in college basketball.

Pitino and Louisville later sued each other. A 2020 settlement ended with Pitino’s personnel file being changed from termination to resignation. Pitino, who won NCAA titles at Kentucky (1996) and Louisville (2013) and also reached a Final Four with Providence (1987), also twice coached in the NBA (Knicks and Celtics).

“I’ve always wanted to make it to the NBA,” Pasha said. “If I wanted an NBA scout to come see me, [Pitino] has that [connection]. He’s a great coach, and I know at Iona I can come in and make an impact.”

» READ MORE: From basketball scout team to a starring role at Roman Catholic

For Laureano, 40, that will mean logging even more hours on the highway. Right now, it takes about an hour and 45 minutes to drive to her son’s games. She rarely misses.

“I consider her like my best friend,” Pasha said. “I go to her for everything. She’s like that person who’s always been in my corner, always made sure I was doing the right thing.”

Unlike his mother, though, Pasha never saw “The Answer” in action, save for YouTube. In the spirit of Iverson, however, he knows exactly how his mother wants him to play.

“She just wants me to play hard,” Pasha said. “Just give it my all every time I’m on the court.”

Pasha says his goal is to win the Catholic League championship this season. Last season, O’Hara lost to Roman Catholic in the quarterfinals. Neumann Goretti later won the championship. The Lions’ only league title came in 1968.

» READ MORE: Neumann Goretti guard Rob Wright III commits to Baylor

Regardless of this season’s outcome, Laureano knows her son’s future is bright.

“I am extremely proud of him,” she said. “I am ecstatic about everything that has happened and is going to happen. I am very happy for what’s to come for him.”