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Texas winners: Texas A&M coach Billy Kennedy knows how good Kentucky freshmen Andrew and Aaron Harrison along with Randle, who are all from Texas, are because he tried to recruit them.
“We got the job late and tried to get involved with them, but their recruiting was already in place and with those type guys, you have a hard time catching up,” Kennedy said. “They are winners. All three of those kids have great motors. They will fight you to win.
“They are mature beyond their years just in understanding how competitive you have to be. That’s what made them, to me, really ... they are very talented, but sometimes you have a lot of talented guys and they don’t know what it takes to win. They are not willing to do the dirty work. Julius Randle and the Harrison twins will do the dirty work.”
They are three of the six McDonald’s All-Americans in Calipari’s recruiting class.
“Kentucky has a great program. Probably 25-35 years ago they had (Melvin) Turpin and (Sam) Bowie. They had guys then. It just seems like they have more this year,” Kennedy said. “They have always had great players and great teams.”
However, he knows while others might think is is “ridiculous” that one team could recruit so well, Kentucky fans are a bit different.
“They would not think it is ridiculous. I coached in Kentucky five years (at Murray State). They would think they don’t have enough. They could use a few more pieces. It is a little bit different there,” he said.
That’s why he understood more than his players did about how special winning in Rupp Arena was last year.
“We put have that win behind us. Our guys do not know how rare and what a blessing it is to win in Rupp Arena. John, this year probably will have the best team I have coached against. I know those three Texas kids and I love them,” Kennedy said.
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