Khem Birch visit

Pittsburgh transfer Khem Birch arrived in Las Cruces late Wednesday and will leave town on Friday for a visit at UNLV.

"I'm going to make a decision either Saturday or Sunday after the UNLV visit," said Birch, a former McDonalds All-American.

Birch committed to Pitt and has since visited Florida before coming to Las Cruces. While a Mountain West school, UNLV can hardly be described as a mid-major. The line between high-major and low-major has become less clear in modern college basketball.

"The advantages are probably developing at a mid-major," Birch said. "At a mid-major, coaches develop the players more. As a high-major coaches, they want to win so development is not as heavy. A lot of the high-majors have players leave and mid-majors have their players stay so it's basically even."

NMSU has an obvious connection to Canadian players and Birch is familiar with senior point guard Hernst Laroche and redshirt Sim Bhullar.

"Me and Hernst played AAU together four years ago and me and Sim played on Team Canada together," he said. "Me and Sim are really close because we are both the same age."

Should Birch land at NMSU, he would be most talented recruit to put an Aggies uniform on since Herb Pope.

"I like the program," he said. "They develop players. They like to do individuals a lot. I like that. It's kind of different from the East Coast but I like it. It (East vs. West) kind of factors into it a little because I'm more used to the East Coast. But I feel like I can gel with the West Coast. I'm not worried about where I'm going. I just want to be happy and be comfortable."