Aaron Harrison becomes latest addition to La Familia in TBT
Aaron Harrison is know for hitting some of the biggest shots for Kentucky and in college basketball history during his career. Now, he will officially be returning to the court this summer in Lexington.
The Wildcats have already fielded a high-level team of former players called ‘La Familia’ for The Basketball Tournament. That roster now includes Harrison who, as of this morning, joined them, which also means playing together again with Andrew Harrison, his identical twin brother.
Harrison is one of the final additions to this summer’s team of UK alumni for the TBT. The team features both Harrison twins along with Eric Bledsoe, Doron Lamb, Reid Travis, Willie Cauley-Stein, Marquis Teague, Kellan Grady, Daniel Orton, James Young, and Nate Sestina. There are also familiar faces in management and on the coaching staff with Tyler Ulis as the head coach, Jon Hood as an assistant, Twany Beckham as the GM, Sam Malone as the assistant GM, and Darius Miller as Director of Player Personnel.
Harrison played with Cauley-Stein, Young, and Ulis along with his brother while in college.
“I mean I’m really actually looking froward to playing with everybody, honestly,” said Harrison in an interview on Kentucky Sports Radio following the announcement. “Just being back in Rupp. The guys that I never got a chance to play with. I’m excited to play with all of them. I mean it’s just an exciting thing. I’m definitely looking forward to it.”
“I mean that’ll be pretty cool,” Harrison added about playing for Coach Ulis, who backed him and Andrew up as part of the bench platoon in ’14-’15. “You guys obviously know Tyler is a great game-manager on the court, of course. One of the best. I’m excited to-lay for him. It’ll be fun.”
Again, Harrison is beloved for what he did during his collegiate career, specifically in the NCAA Tournament. He averaged 12.4 points, 2.8 rebounds, 1.6 assists, and 1.1 steals in 78 games over two seasons at Kentucky. Those pair of years were two of the best under John Calipari where the program went 67-12. One of those was the 38-1 finish in 2015. They also made a pair of Final Fours in that time, including a runner-up finish in 2014.
The Wildcats were arguably only playing for a national title in 2014 due to Harrison’s heroics. After promising “a great story” after underachieving in the regular season, that team got going in the postseason. They made the SEC Championship before knocking off an undefeated, No. 1-seeded Wichita State in the bracket. From there, Harrison would become a legend in the bluegrass and the sport with three game-clinching or winning shots against Louisville in the Sweet 16, Michigan in the Elite Eight, and then Wisconsin in the Final Four.
The TBT is a tournament that will take place from July 19th through August 4th. 64 teams will play across eight regionals with the winning team taking home the prize of a million dollars.
La Familia had a bracket reveal for their portion of the field last week in the Joe Craft Center. They will begin their regional from July 19th through the 23rd against the 305 Ballers. They’ll do so in a return to their former home court at Rupp Arena.
Considering the Calipari era ended this offseason, La Familia is going to provide a nice bit of nostalgia for the Big Blue Nation over the next month. It’ll provide even more so now that Harrison and his clutch history are coming along too.
“Yeah, I’m definitely excited to get back and just play in front of the crowd and just be back in that type of basketball atmosphere,” said Harrison about coming back to the bluegrass. “I’m just excited about that. There’s nothing like it. I’m definitely excited to experience that again, for sure.”