2011 McDonald's All-Americans: Pitt Basketball Recruit Khem Birch Makes The Cut

After a 20-year hiatus, the McDonald's All-Americans are finally coming back to Pitt. This time, it's Khem Birch.

Birch received the prestigious honor and is Pitt's second All-American in three years (Dante Taylor was named to the team in 2009). Birch is not only a top prospect, but may be Pitt's best recruit of all-time.

It's way too early to speculate on it, but it will be interesting to see where/how Birch fits in next season. Does he start immediately? Only time will tell. The only thing I'll caution about is the fact that when Isaiah Epps signed, no one thought he'd be redshirting. There was even talk (by him, admittedly) of being a one-and-done player. Birch is of course a higher-rated recruit than Epps was, but he might not come in and put up 15 points per game right away.

And trust me, the more I think about this, the more I'm not sure if Birch starts next season. Dante Taylor will probably start at center and are we really so sure that Birch starts over Nasir Robinson? Robinson will be a senior and Birch will really have to impress if he's going to unseat Nasir there. Dixon, of course, could go big and play Nasir at the three.

Again, way too early.

Here's the entire McDonald's All-American list.