University of Kentucky basketball coach John Calipari issued more strong evidence to the case that he’s college basketball’s premier recruiter on Thursday when five-star twin guards Aaron and Andrew Harrison of Texas announced they’ve committed to the Wildcats.
The identical, 6-foot-5, 210-pound brothers chose the Cats over Maryland and Southern Methodist during an ESPNU-televised announcement at Houston-area Travis High School.
“I think Coach Calipari presented a challenge for us, and he just told us from Day 1 it was going to be hard and going to be tough and he was going to push us every day,” Andrew Harrison said during the broadcast before a gym full of applauding classmates. “That’s what we really wanted to hear. We just wanted to become better players.”
In adding two consensus top-five prospects, it’s likely the greatest single-day recruiting haul at UK for Calipari, who has positioned himself well to have a fifth consecutive No. 1 recruiting class.
The Harrisons’ recruitment was thought to be a tight race between UK and primarily Maryland, whose coaches have longtime relationships the Harrison family and is outfitted by the same Under Armour apparel brand that sponsors the twins’ AAU team.
But Calipari won out again after not seriously recruiting any other guards in the 2013 class.
The Harrisons join Bullitt East High School power forward Derek Willis as verbal commitments in the 2013 class. They cannot sign with UK until next month.
Andrew Harrison said the twins’ unofficial visit to UK last October for Big Blue Madness was a memorable trip.
“It was crazy; as soon as me and Aaron got off the plane people knew who we were,” Andrew Harrison said. “We were signing autographs, taking pictures with little kids. We kind of felt like rock stars. But that’s not really why we (committed). We went because of the basketball.”
Getting just one player of the quality of the Harrison twins would qualify as a signature recruiting victory for almost any coach, but in landing them both, UK is immediately positioned as a national contender again in the 2013-14 season.
“We just decided we wanted to go somewhere where we could win and knew we could win as soon as we got there,” Aaron Harrison said.
Both twins likely will be projected to need only one year of college ball before entering the NBA draft.
Andrew Harrison, the nation’s No. 1 point guard and No. 2 prospect overall, according to Scout.com, will follow in Calipari’s line of five-star point guards – that began with Derrick Rose and Tyreke Evans at Memphis and extended to John Wall, Eric Bledsoe, Brandon Knight, Marquis Teague and now Ryan Harrow at UK.
“I know his track record, of course,” Andrew Harrison said. “He’s had a lot of high draft picks as point guards, and I just want to get there first and become better every day. I’m not looking (to the NBA) yet. I just want to get on campus and show them what I can do.”
Andrew Harrison has superior size and strength to most point guards in college and many even in the NBA, making him very difficult to keep out of the lane. He’s adept at beating his man off the dribble and throwing lobs to big men near the rim – a staple of Calipari’s dribble-drive offense.
Aaron Harrison, the nation’s top shooting guard and No. 3 overall prospect by Scout.com, is a high-volume scorer with deep shooting range and the ability to attack the basket off the dribble. He plays point guard when his brother is out of the game.
Rivals.com ranks Aaron Harrison No. 3 in the nation, one spot higher than Andrew, and Aaron Harrison is the highest-ranked shooting guard to commit to UK under Calipari.
The twins are also known for their intense competitiveness.
As good as UK’s class is with just them and Willis, who is a leading contender for Kentucky’s Mr. Basketball, it figures to only get better.
UK is a strong contender in the recruitment of five-star prospects Julius Randle, a Texas power forward; James Young, a Michigan wing; and Marcus Lee, a California power forward. They are all ranked in Rivals’ top 15, with Randle ranked No. 1.
Furthermore, the nation’s No. 1 junior, small forward Andrew Wiggins, is high on the Cats and has pondered jumping a grade to the 2013 class.
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