Harrison Twins: BBN 'meant everything' in return to Kentucky with TBT

Andrew Harrison was honest in his assessment of his relationship with the Kentucky basketball program leading up to his return with The Basketball Tournament last summer. Playing in the NBA until 2019, then overseas every year since, he’s obviously been a supporter of the Wildcats, but maybe not the diehard alum obsessing over every game.

“The older I got, I kind of got detached from it a little bit. From watching as much, just because you’re busy being overseas and stuff like that,” he told KSR.

His twin brother, Aaron, shared a similar take.

“I probably watched the most Kentucky basketball in a while,” he said of Mark Pope’s first season in Lexington. “Just because I was around them and I got to meet them during (TBT) last year. I was a lot more interested, I think, in seeing their development and seeing how their season went more than if I’d never met those guys. I was super excited, super happy, just cheering them on.”

The reality is it’d been a decade since either of them had been back to Lexington, hanging around the facilities and Rupp Arena. That means it’s also been a decade since they’ve been around Big Blue Nation — at least beyond the occasional interaction with Kentucky fans in the pros. In terms of fans in blue and white shirts screaming their names in the crowd for their time as Wildcats and all they accomplished together, they hadn’t felt that love since they left in 2015.

Social media is one thing, but to feel it again in person? All of those emotions from back-to-back Final Fours and the game-winners and pursuit of perfection, they all came rushing back like they never left.

“It was such an exciting moment,” Andrew said. “We were excited to be able to go on that stage and play in front of all those people in the state of Kentucky. To be able to have that opportunity, it was amazing. You really forget how much love and everything you get when you’re out there.”

“I mean, as a kid going there, you don’t really understand that type of stuff at all. You don’t really understand the importance of belonging to something and being a part of history and things like that,” Aaron added. “It really stood out last year going back — I think that was the first time I’ve been back in about 10 years. It just stood out, just to be a part of Kentucky basketball and how much support that we really have. It’s something that you can’t really describe, but I’m definitely grateful for it.

“Last summer was a big reminder that we had that — myself and my teammates, everyone that played — much support.”

The prize money is obviously something that gets the players invested, along with the competition among the best former college basketball stars in the country. It lights that fire again beyond the salaries and overseas travel most TBT players experience at this stage of their careers.

Big Blue Nation, though, is like gasoline on those fires.

“The fans really made the whole tournament last year,” Aaron said. “Everyone that played, they all said that when we ran out, it was a different feeling — like something they haven’t felt in years. Especially me, that was just — I was really surprised to see the fans, the supporters, everybody that still appreciates what we did and how much hard work that we put in while we were in Lexington. The fans, they made the whole tournament for us.”

It’s just unlike any of them experienced in their professional journeys since leaving Kentucky, even at the highest level in the NBA. Those players come and go in a business world. BBN, however, supports for life.

“All of our different journeys and everyone playing everywhere, we definitely don’t get that type of support,” he continued. “No one gets that type of support, but we definitely don’t get that type of support in Europe and Asia or whatever. Just being able to come back to Lexington and still have that type of support, it meant really everything. That’s mostly why everyone wants to come play again, for sure. Because of the fans.”

Why are the Harrison Twins back for another run with La Familia — along with Willie Cauley-Stein and the others set to join in the coming weeks? You, Big Blue Nation.

“That love from BBN is the best part,” Andrew said. “A lot of the guys on our team, we all had different routes and ways to go after we left Kentucky, but we can all agree that coming back here is a great feeling. Fans don’t even know how much that love means to us.”