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By LARRY VAUGHT
larry@amnews.com
Even though he wasn’t at Kentucky over the summer, there was no chance Texas shooting guard Aaron Harrison was going to take a break from basketball.
“The biggest break I ever took was probably after the state championship week. I probably took like a week and half off,” said Harrison, the top-ranked shooting guard in last year’s recruiting class and a consensus top five player overall.
The 6-6 Harrison averaged 23.1 points, 5.2 rebounds and 2.5 assists to help lead Travis High School to a 5A state title in his senior season in Texas. He had averaged 18.1 points, 4.7 rebounds, 2.7 assists and 2.6 steals as a junior when Travis went 36-4 record and lost in the state title game.
When Harrison and his twin brother, Andrew, a point guard and another top five player, picked UK over Maryland, it started what became another No. 1 recruiting class for coach John Calipari.
Harrison made it clear at the McDonald’s All-American Game in April what kind of no-nonsense approach he takes when media members tried to get him to hype the recruiting class with some sort of nickname for the new Cats.
“We are Kentucky. We don’t need any nicknames. We are just going out to prove we are the best,” he said then. “Great players thrive in great moments. We like all of the pressure and everything that will be on us at Kentucky.”
That’s one what might expect from a player who says he has patterned his game after a variety of NBA stars — Steph Curry, Kobe Bryant, Dwayne Wade, Monta Ellis.
“I try to take something from all of their games,” Harrison said.
It’s also no surprise that he says his all-time favorite UK player would be point guard Rajon Rondo, now a star with the Boston Celtics. Rondo was also an intense competitor who preferred to let his versatile play do his talking.
“I just like his toughness and his game. He averages a triple double. I have never met him, but I would like to one day,” Harrison said.
Harrison and his brother had academic work to complete and could not attend UK’s summer school with freshmen Marcus Lee, Julius Randle and Dakari Johnson. Instead, he says he worked on “just staying in shape, getting stronger and getting to the basket” during summer workouts.
“People are saying I am just a jump shooter. It’s not true, but it helps as motivation,” he said.
Calipari noted that Harrison was better with his left hand than his brother, something Aaron says is not true.
“My dad worked on my left hand a lot when we were younger because he knew it would be important,” he said. “But I think Calipari is just egging it one with Andrew about me being better. Just motivating him.”
So how are the twins most different on the court?
“I take more jump shots and he will get to the basket and throw more passes. Stuff like that,” Harrison said. “Our shooting styles are different. We are different players.”
The two often played one-on-one games growing up in Richmond, Texas.
“That is probably why we are so tough now because of that. We would go back and forth definitely. No one ever lost a game two times in a row. We were probably 10 or 11 at the house doing that. It started a lot of arguments,” he smiled and said.
That intensity has not changed. One criticism often directed at both Harrisons is that they are too intense on the court and get upset with teammates too easily.
Aaron Harrison admits he only smiles “sometimes” on the court.
“But really no. Just probably intensity and just knowing it is a game, but it really isn’t to us. I do it to win. I just don’t do it to have fun when I play. I want to win,” he said.
That attitude is why Calipari is pushing him to be a team leader even though he didn’t get on campus until late August.
“ I like that. Being guards you always have to be some type of leader on your team. Coach Cal has given us some leadership roles and it is great,” Harrison said. “He expects leadership from me. He knows what all of us can do on the basketball court, but some of us he gave leadership roles to be leaders of the team so we can win.”
He played in all the major postseason all-star games last spring. During his senior season, his team came to the Marshall County Hoop Fest where UK fans turned out to watch him and his brother play.
“I have played in a lot of big games and I am sure it has helped me, but I don’t think I have ever played in front of a group like I am going to play in front of here. I played in front of large crowds before. At our state game, there were 10,000 people there. It’s going to be a test. I have not played in such an intense environment as this,” he said.
He knows games such as Michigan State, North Carolina and Louisville will be special.
“It is going to be amazing. That is pretty much what I live for to play on big stages like that,” he said. “Just go out and play in front of thousands of people. We are coming out to make a point and prove to the country that we are the best team.”
He says the spotlight has been on him and his brother for about the last three years, so they are both used to a lot of attention and what likely lies ahead with the passionate UK fans.
“I got kind of prepared for this. I took two visits and saw how it was. It was great. The atmosphere is great. The students, they don’t really bother you that much. It is great. I love it here,” he said. “But it is hard at times. You just can’t go anywhere you want like a normal kid. You can’t do what everybody else does,
especially here. You just can’t do everything else that others do. Maybe that’s a good thing sometimes, but sometimes you just want to have fun.
“My dad definitely started preaching that to us early that we had to watch what we did. Of course, a teenager wouldn’t get why he couldn’t just do everything and do what all his friends were doing. Now I get it.”
His mother had a different, but important, role in his life.
“Everything else except basketball she took care of,” he said. “She cooked dinner every single night. If we needed something for school, she got it. Everything we ever needed, she got it. Everything except basketball she was there for
“I would say we were a handful at times, too. It was probably tough living in the house with three guys. She was great. As long as we were in the house, she didn’t care what we were doing. She would just find a way to take care of us.”
Did you know
Aaron Harrison was once a successful quarterback.
“Football is huge in Texas and I love football. I played quarterback,” he said. “But I just didn’t take it as serious as I took basketball or I didn’t take it as serious as people in Texas take it. Kind of like what people in Kentucky are like for basketball, so that’s why I quit and stuck just to basketball.”
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