Click photo to enlargeTanveer Bhullar, front, verbally committed to play basketball at New Mexico State University on Tuesday. Tanveer is brothers with current Aggie Sim Bhullar, right. While Sim is listed at 7-foot-5, Tanveer is no slouch himself: a 7-foot-3 frontcourt player from Toronto, Canada. He'll enroll at NMSU in August.
LAS CRUCES - One of the biggest teams in college basketball just got bigger.
Tanveer Bhullar, the 18-year-old, 7-foot-3 younger brother of 20-year-old New Mexico State sophomore center Sim Bhullar (a 7-foot-5 post player), verbally committed to play for the Aggies via his Twitter account on Tuesday.
"Excited to finally make my decision and announce that this fall I will be joining my brothers at NMSU!," Tanveer wrote on his Twitter handle @TvBhullar.
According to Bhullar, also he received interest from Oklahoma, Oregon, Wichita State and New Mexico.
But it was a familiarity with coaches and players on the roster that led him to pick NMSU. He said he plans to travel to Las Cruces in August.
"It felt like family there, because I know half of the people on the team," Bhullar said during a Tuesday phone interview. "Other schools showed interest, but I wanted to end it early. I'm happy that I'm committed and ready to head down to school and get ready to play basketball."
It's unclear if Bhullar will sit out the 2013-14 season or join his brother this year in a frontcourt rotation that also includes 6-foot-8 forward Renaldo Dixon and 6-foot-10 center Tshilidzi Nephawe. ?
"That's what we're going to decide the first couple months in the fall,
what we are going to do," Tanveer Bhullar said.
Bhullar joined a recruiting class that includes Canadian wing Matthew Taylor, point guard Travon Landry (Huntington Prep, West Va.,), Washington D.C. point guard Ian Baker and Texas power forward Kyle Wilson.
NMSU lost seniors Bandja Sy and Tyrone Watson from last year's NCAA Tournament team while guard Eric Weary transferred to Howard College in Texas. Forward B.J. West left NMSU for Jackson State University.
If and when the Bhullar brothers join forces on the basketball court, it would only be for the second time: they played together at the Kiski School in 2009 when Tanveer was a freshman.
Yet playing college basketball with his brother was never a forgone conclusion for the younger Tanveer.
"It was never a goal to play at the same school," he said. "It was a last-minute thing. I talked to him about it and he said he thought it was a good idea if I felt comfortable."
Tanveer Bhullar was in Las Vegas during the Aggies latest Western Athletic Conference Tournament title run, and he was in San Jose, Calif., for NMSU's NCAA Tournament loss to Saint Louis. He played middle-school basketball with Taylor and assistant coach Paul Weir has a good relationship with the Bhullar family.
"(He) just realized it's not the facility or where the campus was, but you have to feel comfortable and be able to trust people and that was a big factor," said Avneet Bhullar, Tanveer's older sister. "I think it will be a lot better so we can cheer for one team and be able to see both of them and take fewer trips. The fact that they're playing together and supporting each other is the most important thing."
Although he was in attendance for three Aggie games during last season, Tanveer Bhullar made an official visit to the NMSU last weekend. His only other official visit was earlier this summer to Oklahoma. He played at Father Henry Carr in Toronto, Ontario last season.
During the regular season, Tanveer Bhullar said he was leaning towards a commitment for the 2014-15 academic year, but he since had a change of heart.
"I got my diploma and I realized that spending another year in high school won't mean as much compared to spending a year in college with college coaches and college trainers," he Bhullar said.
Sim Bhullar will be among the top players in the Western Athletic Conference his sophomore season, after averaging 10.1 points, 6.7 rebounds and 2.4 blocks per game his freshman campaign. He also earned WAC Tournament Most Valuable Player honors after leading the Aggies to their second-straight conference championship.
"He was just telling me that I have to know that if I came to NMSU, I wasn't allowed to slack off, which I took as a positive thing," Tanveer Bhullar said. "He is there to push me and help me out."?
Jason Groves can be reached at 575-541-5459
Source: http://www.lcsun-news.com/ci_23673922/tanveer-bhullar-joins-older-brother-sim-at-new?source=rss_viewed
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