Aaron Harrison (left) and Andrew Harrison on the bench in the final minutes of the Houston Defenders’ win over the Baltimore Elite in Baltimore.
Andrew and Aaron Harrison, both top five players in the Class of 2013, have committed to coach John Calipari and Kentucky, choosing the defending national champion Wildcats over the Terps and Southern Methodist.
The Terrapins men’s basketball team has been hard on the recruiting trail of the Harrison twins for months. Coach Mark Turgeon knew luring them to College Park could give his team one of the most fearsome backcourts in the nation.
The No. 1 point guard and No. 1 shooting guard in the Class of 2013 — No. 2 and No. 4 overall — Andrew and Aaron had been closely tied to the Terps throughout their Travis High School careers. Turgeon began recruiting the Richmond, Texas, natives when he coached at Texas A&M, and that process continued when he came to College Park following the 2010 season.
Their father, Aaron Harrison Sr., had been a supporter of Turgeon and the Terps throughout their recruitment. He grew up in Baltimore and played basketball for Patterson High School, and the twins’ grandparents still live in the Baltimore area.
Many speculated this university’s Under Armour connection would work in the Terps’ favor. The Harrison’s AAU team, the Houston Defenders — which Terps’ center Shaquille Cleare, one of the twins’ close friends, also played for — had strong ties to the company founded by university alum Kevin Plank.
But in the end, the allure of Wildcats proved too much for Andrew and Aaron to pass up. Calipari has rebuilt Kentucky into the nation’s premier program and has had 11 players taken in the first round of the NBA Draft in the past two years combined.
Check tomorrow’s print edition of The Diamondback for complete coverage of the Harrison twins’ announcement.
vitale@umdbk.com
