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. (more…)

Pittsburgh announced Friday evening that freshman center Khem Birch has decided to withdraw from the team.

The news was first reported by CBSSports.com.

“Khem has decided to leave the team for personal reasons,” Pitt coach Jamie Dixon said. “We thank Khem for his contribution to our program over the last semester and wish him great success in the future.”

Birch, a 6-foot-9, 209-pound center who was a McDonald’s All-American, started each of Pitt’s last six games. He led the Panthers in blocked shots (19), averaged 4.4 points and 5.0 rebounds per game and shot 57.1 percent (16-28) from the floor.

Birch totaled one double-double of 15 points and 10 boards at Penn on Nov. 25 and surpassed career-highs for blocked shots (six) and rebounds (11) in a home win against Robert Morris on Nov. 27.

No. 15 ranked Pitt (9-1) hosts South Carolina State tomorrow at the Petersen Events Center.

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NEW YORK — Ashton Gibbs played 39 minutes at point guard for No. 15 Pitt in its 74-68 win over Oklahoma State Saturday at Madison Square Garden.

And head coach Jamie Dixon knows he can’t have Gibbs sustain that pace for a long period of time.

“Ashton looked comfortable, fatigue doesn’t seem to be a big thing,” Dixon said. “It’s not a good thing. Him doing 40 minutes against the press is not a good thing…

“We need Travon back, there’s no question about it.” (more…)

Tough break for Pittsburgh.

Junior guard Tray Woodall will miss the next month due to a groin strain and abdominal tear suffered in Thursday night’s win over Duquesne. Doctors expect the former St. Anthony star to return to the court following four-to-five weeks of rest.

“We anticipate that Tray will make a full recovery and join his teammates on the court soon,” Pitt coach Jamie Dixon said.  (more…)

Pittsburgh has officially signed 7-footer Steven Adams, which is bad news for the Big East.

And maybe the ACC.

“We are extremely excited about Steven and James,” Pitt coach Jamie Dixon said, referring also to DeMatha Catholic guard James Robinson. “Both are good players from winning backgrounds and both have outstanding work ethic.”

Adams is a 7-foot, 240-pound center from New Zealand who has been rated as a consensus national top-10 recruit. This summer he led the adidas Nations Tournament in both scoring (22 ppg.) and rebounding (16.8 rpg.).  (more…)

JERSEY CITY, N.J. — Pittsburgh’s freshmen class includes a McDonald’s All-American, a 6-foot-11 shot-blocker, a member of last year’s prep national powerhouse and a combo guard who could play some meaningful minutes.

“They’re all working hard,” Pitt coach Jamie Dixon told SNY.tv last week during a recruiting visit to Hudson Catholic High School. “I think they’re adjusting. They’ve had six weeks of workouts, and there’s been improvement definitely.

“It’s been a good group.” (more…)

JERSEY CITY, N.J. — Pittsburgh coach Jamie Dixon has built a perennial national powerhouse by recruiting heavily from the corridor running from New York City to Washington, D.C.

With the Panthers headed to the ACC sometime in the near future, Dixon says he has no plans to alter his recruiting philosophy.

“I don’t think it will change too much for us,” Dixon told SNY.tv during an exclusive interview Thursday at Hudson Catholic High School. “I still think we’re going to recruit in those areas. I mean, there’s a reason why we recruit and where we recruit and we’ve never focused on one area. We’ve always tried to have certain areas that we knew really well.” (more…)

When Jerami Grant committed to Syracuse last Friday, he and his DeMatha Catholic teammate, Pittsburgh-bound point guard James Robinson, joked about playing one another in the Big East Conference across their college careers.

“The next morning we find out we’re probably going to end up being in the ACC, so we laughed and joked about it,” Robinson told SNY.tv, referring to the breaking news on Saturday that both Pittsburgh and Syracuse were ditching the Big East for the ACC.

While it’s a fortuitous coincidence that the two teammates both pledged to teams leaving the Big East, consider this potential course of events.

If Big East Commissioner John Marinatto holds to his promise of keeping Syracuse and Pittsburgh in the league until 2014, Grant and Robinson could play two years in the Big East and two years in the ACC. (more…)

Pittsburgh coach Jamie Dixon says his school tried to keep the Big East together, but ultimately felt the ACC was the best option going forward.

“We’re excited, and I don’t know when we will officially enter the ACC, but we’re excited about this season, we’re excited about next season,” Dixon, whose team won the Big East regular season title last year, said in a statement. “Whenever we do enter the ACC and begin play in that conference, we’ll be ready for that as well. Chancellor [Mark] Nordenberg and [athletic director] Steve Pederson, what they’ve done over the years in monitoring this whole situation has put the University in the best situation it can be. They did an unbelievable job and we have great respect, confidence and admiration for what they’ve done and the position they’ve put us in.”

Nordenberg has taken some heat for leaving the league after he criticized Miami, Boston College and Virginia Tech for doing the same thing in 2003. (more…)