Adam Zagoria covers basketball at all levels. He is the author of two books and an award-winning journalist whose articles have appeared in ESPN The Magazine, SLAM, Sheridan Hoops, Sports Illustrated, Basketball Times and in newspapers nationwide.
Khem Birch has not asked for his official release from Pittsburgh but head coach Jamie Dixon does not anticipate the player returning to play for the Panthers, a school official confirmed Tuesday to SNY.tv.
The 6-foot-9 McDonald’s All-American left the team last Thursday and told Dixon he intended to transfer.
One source in Birch’s inner circle said Birch is currently at home in Montreal “keeping a low profile.”
Although both Missouri and New Mexico State have been linked to Birch, no list of potential destinations has been formulated, a second source said.
Still, Missouri has shown a willingness to add transfers and recently brought on former Oregon guard Jabari Brown as its third transfer who will become eligible in the 2012-13 season.
New Mexico State associate head coach Paul Weir is a Toronto native and the team’s current roster features six Canadians.
“It’s a very disorganized mess,” a third source close to Birch said of the next phase of his career. “It’s not going to resolve itself in the near future, I don’t think.”
Meantime, both Birch’s former high school coach, Ryan Hurd of Notre Dame Prep, and current Pitt players have chimed in on Birch’s decision to leave.
“Khem is a great kid,” Hurd told the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette over the weekend. “This situation is painting him as something he is not. The problem is he is being led down a road by so-called advisors. It’s going to end poorly for Khem, and that is sad for me because I care about the kid. This is not going to end well for him.”
The Pitt players have not been as sympathetic, with forward Talib Zanna, a Nigerian, telling the Post-Gazette that Pitt practices sometimes brought Birch to tears.
“His wrist and hands were banged up,” Zanna said. “He banged it like three times in a row. There was a lot of pain. He couldn’t sustain the pain so he just had to cry. I don’t even know if I would say it was crying, but if you looked at his face it looked like he was crying. This program might have been too tough for him. I think that’s why he left.”
In contrast to Hurd’s comments about “so-called advisors,” Zanna added that Birch was a loner who didn’t spend time with the team.
“It’s a real shame,” Zanna said. “He made Coach Dixon look bad. That was up to him. It was his own decision. If he wanted to move on because he wanted more playing time that was up to him. We just have to move on and let him do his stuff. We’ll be fine without him, or with him.”
Photo: Post-Gazette
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Adam Zagoria is a Basketball Insider who covers basketball at all levels. A contributor to The New York Times and SportsNet New York (SNY), he is also the author of two books and is an award-winning journalist and filmmaker. His articles have appeared in ESPN The Magazine, SLAM, Sheridan Hoops, Basketball Times and in newspapers nationwide. He also won an Emmy award for his work on the SNY mini-documentary on Syracuse guard Tyus Battle.
A veteran Ultimate Frisbee player, he has competed in numerous National and World Championships and, perhaps more importantly, his teams won the Westchester Summer League (WSL) championships in 2011 and 2013.
He lives in Manhattan with his wife and children.
Khem Birch has not asked for his official release from Pittsburgh but head coach Jamie Dixon does not anticipate the player returning to play for the Panthers, a school official confirmed Tuesday to SNY.tv.
The 6-foot-9 McDonald’s All-American left the team last Thursday and told Dixon he intended to transfer.
One source in Birch’s inner circle said Birch is currently at home in Montreal “keeping a low profile.”
Although both Missouri and New Mexico State have been linked to Birch, no list of potential destinations has been formulated, a second source said.
Still, Missouri has shown a willingness to add transfers and recently brought on former Oregon guard Jabari Brown as its third transfer who will become eligible in the 2012-13 season.
New Mexico State associate head coach Paul Weir is a Toronto native and the team’s current roster features six Canadians.
“It’s a very disorganized mess,” a third source close to Birch said of the next phase of his career. “It’s not going to resolve itself in the near future, I don’t think.”
Meantime, both Birch’s former high school coach, Ryan Hurd of Notre Dame Prep, and current Pitt players have chimed in on Birch’s decision to leave.
“Khem is a great kid,” Hurd told the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette over the weekend. “This situation is painting him as something he is not. The problem is he is being led down a road by so-called advisors. It’s going to end poorly for Khem, and that is sad for me because I care about the kid. This is not going to end well for him.”
The Pitt players have not been as sympathetic, with forward Talib Zanna, a Nigerian, telling the Post-Gazette that Pitt practices sometimes brought Birch to tears.
“His wrist and hands were banged up,” Zanna said. “He banged it like three times in a row. There was a lot of pain. He couldn’t sustain the pain so he just had to cry. I don’t even know if I would say it was crying, but if you looked at his face it looked like he was crying. This program might have been too tough for him. I think that’s why he left.”
In contrast to Hurd’s comments about “so-called advisors,” Zanna added that Birch was a loner who didn’t spend time with the team.
“It’s a real shame,” Zanna said. “He made Coach Dixon look bad. That was up to him. It was his own decision. If he wanted to move on because he wanted more playing time that was up to him. We just have to move on and let him do his stuff. We’ll be fine without him, or with him.”
Photo: Post-Gazette
And like ZAGS on Facebook.
