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Andrew Harrison and Aaron Harrison, twin guards from Fort Bend (Tex.) Travis, announced live on ESPNU that they will play college basketball for the Kentucky Wildcats next year. The five-star brothers picked Kentucky over the Maryland Terrapins and SMU Mustangs. The Villanova Wildcats and Baylor Bears had previously rounded out their top five.
Though Kentucky had been considered the prohibitive favorite for quite some time, there was still uncertainty down to the wire. Maryland made a particularly strong case. First, the twins are originally from Baltimore, and still have family in the area.
Further, Maryland head coach Mark Turgeon had recruited the Harrisons as sophomores when Turgeon was the head coach at Texas A&M. Finally, the Harrisons are family friends with Maryland assistant coach Bino Ranson, and close friends with former AAU teammate Shaq Cleare. Cleare will suit up as a freshman for the Terrapins this fall. Oh yeah, and there was that whole Under Armour thing.
In the end though, the allure of playing for John Calipari and in front of the Kentucky faithful was too much for Maryland to overcome. It's no secret that the twins are hyper-competitive, and want to maximize their time in college by competing for championships and boosting their draft stocks as high as possible. Calipari's recent track record of postseason success and player development--culminating in a National Championship season last year--was almost certainly the tipping point.
With the Harrison twins on board, Kentucky's 2013 recruiting class will shoot to the top of the team rankings. The Harrisons join Derek Willis from Mt. Washington (Ky.) Bullitt East in the class. As has become the norm under John Calipari, Kentucky is eying another historic class. The Wildcats have made the final cut for five-star prospects Julius Randle (Plano (Tex.) Prestonwood Christian), James Young (Rochester (Mich.)), and Aaron Gordon (San Jose (Cal.) Archbishop Mitty).
Those are tomorrow's opportunities. With today's announcement, Kentucky remains king of the hill, and have two backcourt starters and key pieces for a 2013-14 championship run.