Latest, Recruiting
Birch to Pitt
Published by Gilbert Muako on September 30, 2010
Khem Birch has announced his commitment to play his college ball at Pittsburgh University.
While celebrating his birthday, the 6-foot-9 forward gave a verbal commitment to go to the Big East powerhouse in 2012.
Based off our past conversations we’ve had with the talented big it doesn’t come as too much of surprise that he opted for the Panthers as he made it clear he had a great deal of interest in playing for Pitt.
“Pitt was always my favorite, I took a visit two weeks ago, I loved it because the fans, I got to see the facilities, and I felt at home because Pittsburgh is a great city,” says Birch.
Birch had built a strong with the coaching staff which made things a lot easier when it came time to decide.
“I’m close with couch [Pat] Skerry and I think coach Dixon can take me to the next level and I felt it was the right fit.”
The Quebec native had a fantastic summer, helping the Canadian Junior National team capture Bronze, showed strong play at the Nike Global challenge and was impressive on the AAU circuit, increasing his stock largely and getting recognized as a top ten prospect.
Here’s the type of player the Pittsburgh head coach Jamie Dixon just landed based on our evaluation at the King James City Showcase:
Birch was no doubt a top-five performer in the King City classic. He had his name buzzing around the Cleveland State gymnasium after each of his performance.
An athletic freak who is extremely active around the basket. He had his hands on every missed shot both on the offensive and defensive end. Whether scoring the put-back basket, snatching it and kicking back out or slapping it to a teammate when the ball was out of reach to truly grab.
At 6-foot-9, Birch had the greatest wingspan (86”) in the event which he put into use as he terrified offensive players with his great ability to block shots. It is obvious the young man is still learning the game offensively but he was really impressive scoring when given the opportunity.
He has good hands, great bounds and has excellent body control attacking the rim, very creative finishing around the basket from a pass, runs the floor extremely well and will finish above the rim in transition.
Not yet consistent but Birch did show a good shooting form from 15-feet out.
Tough, but very thin, Birch has a huge presence in the paint being the best shot blocker in the gym. He will become a big time player as he grows his offensive game and as his body develops.
(3 votes, average: 5.00 out of 5)
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#1 Canadian Content – Toronto Update on Sat, 2nd Oct 2010 4:42 pm
[...] rounds after his commitment … Highlights of Pitt’s stud basketball recruit … Birch to Pitt | Crown Magazine … BREAKING NEWS: Khem Birch to Pittsburgh | Flagrant Fouls … Pittsburgh [...]
#2 Black and Blue and Gold » Blog Archive » Birch key to Dixon’s breakthrough on Sun, 3rd Oct 2010 1:01 am
[...] Birch still has a long way to go. He has skill and, like most big men, his defense is far superior to his offense. Birch is considered a great finisher and a legitimate scoring threat when close to the basket, but [...]
#3 ballernation on Tue, 23rd Nov 2010 8:11 pm
I will agree that Birch is a great defender. However, his offensive skills are definitely limited. In addition, why is everyone going nuts about a him “going one year early” when in fact he is not a legitamate 2012 player? His birthdate is Sept 28, 1992. How on God’s earth does that make him class of 2012? If he graduated in 2012, he’d be fully 20 years old when he started college. EVERYBODY else will be 18 or 19.
Every year between 16 and 20 is HUGE in a player’s development skillwise as especially physically. Khem is a great kid, great athelete and a great basketball player, BUT let’s set an EVEN playing field before we start going nuts about exactly how good he is (being a year older than everyone else).