I’m sorry to see him go. I don’t agree with it, not simply because he is leaving Pitt, but because a mid-season transfer is not a particularly smart decision for any kid. He can transfer, but he will still have to sit a full year. He won’t be eligible until the winter semester of 2012-13. Still he seems gone, this time for real.
“I’m leaving,” Birch told CBSSports.com on Friday night. “I’m headed to Toronto now. I enjoyed my time at Pittsburgh, I love Coach (Jamie) Dixon, had no problems with the staff and the players. It just wasn’t the right fit for me.”
Birch informed CBSSports.com that he does not have a new list and has not decided on his next destination.
Earlier today, P-G’s Pitt basketball beat writer Ray Fittipaldo posted that there are whispers (spin?) that Khem Birch is not particularly emotionally mature and that he might have “bad” influences in his ear. My natural impulse is that this is a bit of spin from the Pitt side. The one factor that mitigates is that Birch opted to start college a year earlier than he needed to — and most expected/thought he should.
Technically there still appears to be a crack.
“Khem has decided to leave the team for personal reasons,” Dixon said in a statement. “We thank Khem for his contribution to our program over the last semester and wish him great success in the future.”
Birch boarded a bus for Buffalo and was expecting to re-enter Canada before making a decision on his future.
Dixon has not returned a call to me, but I was told by two other sources that they would not be surprised if Birch was talked out of his decision once he returned home. Dixon’s statement didn’t seem like he left the door open, but I was told he could be back.
In talking to several people throughout the day the picture was painted for me that Birch simply was ill-equipped to handle the pressure of playing Division I basketball at this time.
I don’t know what the truth is right now. Tweets and inferences from yesterday implied a lot of immaturity and frustration from Birch about playing time and position.
Under the rules of the Big East and NCAA he cannot transfer to another Big East school. Pitt has to grant his release so he is not exactly free to go where he wants. Claims that he hasn’t made up his mind about where he is going are probably a bit of bull. As a mid-season transfer he has to decide quickly to get released and enrolled.
Obviously there is going to be more on this matter. So, I’m not going to extend my speculation any further. Nor am I going to kill the kid at this point.
He’s a flake and grossly over hyped. I suspect his draft stock will soar. The bottom feeders perennial lottery teams just LOVE a project with big potential upside
Don’t really want to bring anything racial/cultural into things as I don’t know anything, but I’m guessing growing up as an athlete and playing hoops in Montreal is quite different than growing up in the world of AAU, basketball camps and street ball in Brooklyn, Chester PA, Pittsburgh and basically anywhere in the US. Sure he played his senior season in Mass, but Birch showed up to Pittsburgh basically an outsider, awkward for the most part, with a blond streak in his hair. He seems to be a different kind of kid.
The rest our kids seem like they are great and seem VERY tight and I doubt there was anything outwardly wrong or bad but you have to feel like you belong. May just not have been a good fit, which as much as it sucks is understandable. Hopefully after a couple of days of sitting around doing absolutely nothing, he will miss Pittsburgh and playing and remind him of the potential opportunities that await him.
Has another MickyD’s player ever just packed up and gone home at the Christmas/Holiday break? It is very curious.
the trib says there have been no coaching interviews and smiling stevie is out of town and when fickell was talked to bye the trib he does not have offical word that he will have one. what the f k what are they doeing at pitt and why is stevie not here working on our new coach .
I also known tons of young kids, younger than him that stick with things, and keep their comittments.
I wish him th best, but, I’m not feeling all warm and fuzzy about this.
Made sure he got out before next semester started.
Sounds like some calculations going on.
Adams conmes in this year and somehow, I get the sense that this will bring the Pitt team together. face it folks, if you can’t play for Jamie dixon because the presssure is too much, try playing in lexington, KY where if you don’t perform, you don’t get paid that week.
The tough thing is watching two 18 year olds leave PITT this year. Oops Fraud Graham is in his 40’s. Funny thing is that Khem may have handled the departure better than Fraud Graham. Who is the 18 year old?
This opens a possibility for Steve Adams to really come in and play next year, and from what I’ve seen on tape he’s much more developed than Birch was on the offensive end, though he didn’t have quite the athleticism on the defensive side of the ball.
Birch is just an 18-year-old kid, and I won’t ever fault one for making a decision that they later came to regret. Going from Montreal to Pittsburgh at such a young age is a big change, and sometimes we just aren’t ready for things we think we are. I wish him the best, I hope he returns to Pitt but if not, then I hope he finds success elsewhere.
He can be off campus by April 1 preparing for the draft. Hell, there is way worse situations to be in – you know Pitt is going to the NCAA and no matter what that has to be fun for a player. Is it so bad he can’t handle three months?
This is helluva frustrating, between Taylor and this Steve Adams better be a knockout star.
Decembers at PITT are becoming a month we need to skip. After his performance at Penn, where he was dominant, with 15, 10 and I think 6 blocks I thought that was the start of something really big for him and PITT. What the heck happened after that. Oh Taylor came back from his migraines.
Now who is going to push Taylor, who definitely felt some pressure to produce with Birch in the picture. Not a very good situation.
Well I wish Khem well, freshmen year is always the toughest year and 1rst semester is even tougher. Does anyone know if he completed his
semester finals? Hopefully he did, so that the whole experience wasn’t a total waste for him.
I enjoyed watching him play, good luck Khem.
None of these knuckleheads have been to Pitt practices. It’s just mainly ignoramuses.
I’ll try to explain. Birch WOULDN’T HAVE BEEN STARTING (IN THE STARTING LINEUP) IF HE WASN’T PRACTICING HARD. That’s the way it is with Dixon and rightfully so. You play like you practice.
And if you don’t practice hard, you don’t play.
Just ask JJ Moore.
I’ve been suggesting for weeks now, the kid should be getting lots of PT, BEFORE the BigEast season.
He did very well in the two games he got some bigger minutes. He played 28 minutes against Penn and had a Double/double, 15 & 10. That was better than any game Taylor in his over 2 years, now into his 3rd year at PITT, EVER had at PITT.
And he got 29 minutes against a good RMU team and stuffed the stat sheet. With 8 points, 11 rebounds and 6 blocked shots. Again that was better than ANY game Taylor had played at PITT.
Granted these teams were kind of undersized, but we played plenty of undersized teams in the last 2 and a quarter years, especially in non-con, and Taylor had done nowhere close to that kind of production.
Also Birch’s presence obviously made Taylor work harder and has made him a better player. So he better not become Sleepy again.
It’s just a damn shame.
What a week we’re having.