UNLV just landed former McDonald's All-American Khem Birch who decided to transfer from Pitt to UNLV. The 6-foot-9 forward choose UNLV over Florida:
"I really like UNLV," he said. "It was a very tough decision but UNLV is a good fit for me because of the coaches, players and facilities. I will be able to train during my time off. Also, I can develop under a great, young coach in Dave Rice. He and the entire staff made me feel very comfortable in Las Vegas."
Birch will be eligible to play for UNLV in January 2013 and going by high school success should be a key player come next year. Birch was paired of with Mike Moser who also transferred into UNLV as he came from UCLA and is now their best player, so Moser could relate to Birch about being a transfer at UNLV. It also seems likely that Birch selected UNLV due to their success with transfers over the years.
With Birch joining the 2012 class, UNLV now has one scholarship left to give out, and there are four players who could fill that lost spot. The four candidates are Shabazz Muhammad the 2012 top recruit and Las Vegas product, Anthony Bennett who is the No. 7 2012 product and also from Las Vegas, Norvel Pelle signed with St. John's but is not at prep school and may not be recruited as much with Birch in the fold and finally Winston Shepard who is the No. 40 overall player according to Rivals.
UNLV would really want to land Muhammad because if they do they could land in the 2013 preseason top-10 or better. Even if UNLV does not land Muhammad their 2012 class is stellar and with their returning talent would be a threat to make a deep NCAA tournament run and easily be the best team on the West coast.
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