In the 2028 class and attending St. Ignatius, 6-foot-6, 210 pound Noah Kirsch-Lopez is a unique player and person on and off the basketball court. Why so? Because in addition to his plus rebounding and scoring contributions on the hardwood, he is constantly studying with an unyielding focus what's taking place in front of him on the court, analyzing and processing what he is seeing and learning what offensive and defensive techniques work, when and why. Even when he is taking a breather on the bench during a game, he continues to study the action and dissect what is happening. Secondly, might he find himself in the stands at a game or watching one on the television, be it college or the NBA, it's always another opportunity for studying and learning, adding to his repertoire of knowledge. Add in his perusing game film and that completes the triad of his continuing construction of basketball knowledge.
Kirsch-Lopez is already making noise as he was recently named to The San Francisco Chronicle 2025-26 All-Metro Honorable Mention squad as a sophomore. To a query about his best hoops skills, Kirsch-Lopez quickly offered, "What I hope makes me special is my basketball IQ, rebounding and shooting." Note what he lists first in his response.
Also, Kirsch-Lopez currently plays AAU ball on the Adidas 3SSB circuit with the Sin City Select out of Las Vegas..
Leadership
Later in our conversation, the subject of leadership was broached and in particular his includes quite a telling achievement. Besides being on his school's Student Council, as well as the Service Club and Block Club. In middle school, Kirsch-Lopez won the school's Changemaker Award after landing a grant to financially help with fulfilling the needs of underprivileged kids. What an amazing achievement for anyone at that age or older considering most of us were achieving very little beyond surviving in middle school.
Regarding his presence on his St. Ignatius squad, he said, "I think of myself as a leader. How hard I play shows," giving him the credibility necessary in interacting with his teammates. "I'm always work to be a better teammate and I'll see what the team needs and try and fill in the gap. I also work to pick up teammates if they are down or something has gone wrong."
Minus any previous family treading the hoops path, Kirsch-Lopez participated in baseball, soccer and basketball when he was younger but watching Steph Curry and Draymond Green drew him to focus on the latter. That and the enticing back and forth speed of the game.
One event early on solidified with him that he was on the right road.
Early Recognition
"What has always stuck with me is early on (fifth/sixth grade) attending a (Golden State) Warriors camp featuring 300 players. At the end-of-the-week awards ceremony, I was named Hustle Player of the Week and was given different kinds of Warriors paraphernalia." Then, a few minutes later it was also announced, "I earned Player of the Week award and received gear autographed by Steph Curry. I was super happy." If his family has a home safe, then it's likely the Curry-signed apparel is residing there.
Kirsch-Lopez sports a 3.8 grade point average which will make him attractive to a broad academic range of college suitors, including high academic colleges. He's unsure of a major as yet, but is leaning towards "the business/finance sector". At the D1 level, he sees himself "likely as a guard or an undersized wing."
He thanked his parents for "all their time involved and the money they have spent on traveling" thus far in facilitating his basketball journey, "all my coaches who believed in me" and 'my longtime trainer Kenny Hatch," who also played at St. Ignatius as well as Cañada College and Texas A&M International.
Trainer Kenny Hatch on Kirsch-Lopez
Here's Hatch on his protege: "Noah has been great to work with - we started when he was in the 7th grade. He's been a competitor since the first session we had. He goes hard in every drill, takes the coaching that I give him, etc. You can tell he wants to play this game at a high level and that he has a passion for it."
"I told him to use me as a resource to navigate the basketball world - as it's not easy. Same with his parents. I've told them to always reach out if they had questions about schools, basketball, etc."
"I'm excited to see him develop in the next few years. He's definitely a division 1 player - as I have already received messages about him from Division 1 coaches asking me about him, his game, family, etc. so I know he's not far from his goal of playing Division 1 basketball."
With two remaining seasons of high school eligibility, Kirsch-Lopez will undoubtedly emerge from Honorable Mention to a higher status as he continues to gobble up basketball information like an AI algorithm and apply it accordingly.