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Mister Aaron Andrew Harrison lives in Richmond, Texas a Houston suburb and he is constantly in attendance at the UK basketball games cheering his son’s on. Over the last three days the elder Harrison can be heard by yours truly in the Georgia Dome in Atlanta, Georgia.
For the Florida game the Mr. Harrison echoed the atmosphere seen and heard at little league and middle school games mostly in baseball. There’s a steady stream of exhortation of their child and constant berating of the officials coming from the stands. In the Florida game his positioning happened to be directly behind me shouting out instructions.
“Aaron bend your knees (on defense),” Mister Harrison shouted. “Andrew attack his middle (the hips) to turn the corner toward the basket.” Such was the instruction stream that I thought was sound direction.
What does he think made this team start to play better in Atlanta? “Coach (Calipari) has kind of change his methods a little bit,” Mr. Harrison said, “which help them drastically.” He said that after the Florida game in Florida he came up and talked to his sons. “We had a real long talk. We worked out a little like we normally do and we had a talk about there being no pressure. You know at Kentucky they stay one year and go and our situation is a little different than most situations. They kind of grew up in an upper middle class and they don’t know financial responsibilities like other kids had to. So they don’t have that type of responsibility.”
We ask the elder Harrison about the mindset that has been established by Calipari and surrounds practically every recruit he brings into the program? And if they don’t presently fit into that mode like previously thought when they were recruited? What kind of effect mentally does that have on his kids? He said – “If you’ve met them about five or six time you would know that’s not the most important thing to them. To them it’s all about winning that day, in life.”
Harrison said prior to the Sunday Florida game “today it's all about winning.” And his steady stream of shouting exhortations coming from the stand said to anyone listening that if he could go and sat on the bench in a coaching capacity he would.
So having said all the aforementioned we assumed he was not about to say what would happen at the end of the season as far as the future of his son or sons? He said – “I can tell you exactly what’s going to happen. At the end of the year we’ll sit down and pray about it – if it is it is, if it ain’t it ain’t. That’s exactly what’ll happen.”
For the most part the twins have played more free and easy with the only mindset, in concert with the rest of the team, and that’s winning the game.
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