Brandon Garrison surprised his HS coach by picking Kentucky, excited for 'fresh start'

If you were surprised by Oklahoma State transfer Brandon Garrison‘s abrupt commitment to Kentucky, you’re not the only one. In fact, his high school coach, Lenny Hatchett of Del City (OK) had no idea things were trending in the Wildcats’ direction until the very end beyond surface-level phone calls and Zoom meetings.

Up to that point, most of the conversations had been centered around the likes of Oklahoma, Texas, Arkansas and even a potential return back to Stillwater under new head coach Steve Lutz — formerly of Western Kentucky. Hatchett tried finding the right balance of helping make connections to give his former star the tools and resources necessary to make an educated decision while also leaving space for Garrison to do what’s best for himself.

Early portal conversations

“When he entered the transfer portal, of course it blew up just like starting all over again, especially after the year he had as a freshman at Oklahoma State,” he told KSR. “It was actually a little more aggressive because there are a lot more intangibles that are gonna go along with it. Several schools that I had relationships with — especially our local universities — kept in contact with me a lot. We talked quite a bit just about trying to keep Brandon around here or to their university.”

His hunch was Oklahoma, who was “really, really, really recruiting him hard.”

“I thought they did a great job, they had a great relationship with the family,” Hatchett said.

Texas and Arkansas also got visits and made their own positive impressions, Garrison leaving having “found the pros and cons” from both. And of the schools he didn’t totally love in those initial talks, he decided pretty quickly he had no interest in making visits and cut them from the list.

Kentucky enters the picture

So how is it that Mark Pope and the Kentucky Wildcats, who tried scheduling a visit with the former McDonald’s All-American before it ultimately fell through, ended up stealing Garrison away in the eleventh hour?

Hatchett is kind of wondering the same thing.

“I did hear about Kentucky being involved and I think it was probably more Zoom calls and phone calls with him and his family than anything because I know he didn’t go on that visit,” he told KSR. “He told me after Texas that he was gonna go visit Kentucky and Arkansas and then he told me that the Kentucky trip never made, but he was still gonna go to Arkansas. … I never heard from Kentucky so it was kind of one of those deals that it surprised me.”

Garrison was looking for a “fresh start” to “see what was out there” following Mike Boynton’s departure at Oklahoma State, fired back on March 14. The 6-11 center found success in his lone season in Stillwater, averaging 7.5 points, 5.3 rebounds, 1.5 assists and 1.5 blocks per game in 29 starts of 32 total appearances. It was a unique situation where he produced at a high level in limited time out on the floor with just 22.6 minutes per contest, but also displayed flashes of so much more. It’s fair to say he was mislabeled as a project big — he did put up 13.3 PPG, 9.3 RPG and 2.6 BPG per-40 averages as is, after all.

Garrison makes an impact on and off the court

He’s just got three additional seasons of eligibility with a ton of raw ability at his disposal in terms of touch, feel, vision and finesse beyond the physical gifts he boasts as a 6-11, 245-pound athlete. If his floor is rim-running and shot-blocking, what’s his ceiling?

That’s for Pope to find out — while also enjoying what he brings to the table as a high-character human off the floor.

“They’re getting a kid that’s a lot more mature from his high school year, of course. A kid that’s seasoned after having a year as a freshman playing in the Big 12 and understanding how to play at that level,” Hatchett said. “I saw not only the maturity of his freshman year, but they’re getting a great high-character young man, a kid that loves the game of basketball. He’s a guy that people want to be around, he’s a locker room guy.

“On the court, you’re getting a young man that’s a rim protector, very versatile, that has an extremely high IQ of being able to pass the basketball, great hands and great timing. With the tradition of Kentucky, I hope he’s able to fit in there and then be able to use some of those assets that he has and also improve on those and gain others.”

Finding his potential in Lexington

It’s also on Garrison to push toward that ceiling, as well. He got off to a strong start in the Big 12, but Kentucky is a brand-new beast and the SEC is just as tough — and only getting tougher with Oklahoma and Texas making the same conference-to-conference move starting this season.

The former four-star exceeded first-year expectations by taking over a starting role and competing with the best of them for the Cowboys, but he’s got no choice but to ramp things up in a hurry as a Wildcat.

“He knows he’s gonna have to bring it every day, and he competes. That’s one thing that we’ve always done, even back to when he was in high school and I know he did Oklahoma State, being able to go compete at that level every day in practice,” Hatchett told KSR. “He knows those guys down there are going to be bringing it and it’s gonna only make him better. Understanding what it takes to stay on the floor out there at that level will only grow his skill level and taking advantage of every opportunity that he gets.”

The familiarity helps with Pope also coming from the Big 12 at BYU, and the same can be said for new assistant Alvin Brooks III, making the move from Baylor. “(He) crushed me at BYU last year and crushed Coach Brooks at Baylor last year,” his new head coach said of Garrison, who went for a career-high 21 points against the Cougars and 20 against the Bears.

“We’re unbelievably glad he’s on our team now,” Pope added.

Real-time evaluation for Pope and his staff

The new staff saw the former Burger Boy at his best in his debut season in Stillwater, undoubtedly factoring into Pope’s decision to push his chips in on Garrison, even with another high-profile frontcourt visitor on campus as the commitment came through.

His former coach doesn’t blame them for making such a gutsy call after evaluating him in real time during Big 12 play this past year.

“With Coach Pope being able to watch him play in person against him, he knows the Big 12 is extremely physical. Brandon was able to show that he could handle the physicality part of it and I feel that the SEC is just as physical as any other league,” Hatchett said. “Being able to know that and knowing he could handle that was probably a big eye-opener for Coach.

“When you’re able to know that and see that, of course you say, ‘I want to get that kid.'”

Building off a strong debut season

He’ll have ups and downs acclimating to a new city at a new program and under a new coach. That’s how this stuff works, it’s always an adjustment. Once he gets past that, though, Hatchett is confident the best version of Garrison will be found in Lexington.

And he’s excited to see what that looks like.

“He’s gonna be fine. The talent is there, like everybody knows. I think a lot of people thought he was a project when he was going to Oklahoma State,” he told KSR. “I think he showed that he can do a lot of things and I think his confidence level is going to go through the roof. He’s just gonna continue to keep building off of that. … I’m excited for him that he finally found a home for himself to get ready to continue on his career.”