It’s one thing to watch from afar, keeping up with your alma mater after experiencing such fond memories at Kentucky — Aaron and Andrew Harrison seeing the highest of highs with back-to-back Final Fours in 2014 and 2015. It’s another thing to have a personal investment with a specific team as they both did with Mark Pope‘s debut roster in Lexington.
They arrived for the first-ever La Familia run in The Basketball Tournament last summer around the same time the 2024-25 Wildcats did for early workouts. There, the two squads went head-to-head as part of the practice schedule allowed by the NCAA with four hours per week over eight weeks. That gave the new guys a leg up on the competition, trading haymakers with UK legends and current pros as they got their feet wet in blue and white.
The old heads landed a few punches, but so did the young pups — enough to let the vets know Pope’s first squad had enough talent to make some noise.
“The fans have a lot to be excited about,” Aaron Harrison told KSR last July.
When you help lay the early building blocks in practice the way La Familia did with last year’s Kentucky team, it’s hard not to find yourself pulling for the Wildcats a little bit harder than usual. You want to see the process through — especially if they found success against you.
“The run that they had, that was probably the most I’ve watched Kentucky basketball in a while, just because I was around them and I got to meet them last year,” Aaron told KSR on Friday. “I was a lot more interested, I think, to see their development and see how their season went more than if I had never met the guys. I was super excited, super happy cheering them on.”
It’s not that the Harrisons were avoiding Kentucky in recent years or supported John Calipari any less — “Coach Cal is my guy,” Aaron said last July. “He obviously changed my life.” You just get caught up in life, especially playing professionally overseas in different time zones the way the Harrisons have since leaving the NBA.
“The older I got, I got kind of detached from it a little bit, watching so much — just because you’re so busy being overseas and stuff like that,” Andrew said of his relationship with the Wildcats. “Being able to meet the guys that were on the team and being greeted by Coach Pope as soon as we walked in the building, it was a good feeling.”
It doesn’t hurt when you return to Rupp Arena and experience Big Blue Nation wrapping its arms around you again after a decade away from Lexington. For a number of reasons, the Harrisons just found themselves being more intentional keeping up with Kentucky this past season.
Another? Mark Pope, who led that embrace through the coaching change last offseason right when La Familia was trying out TBT for the first time. As uncomfortable as it could have been bringing Coach Cal’s guys around the program as Pope was finding his footing in Lexington, the new leader went out of his way to cut out any potential awkwardness.
That went a long way with the Harrisons.
“It was really exciting to me because coming in, just meeting Coach Pope, you can tell he’s a genuine guy. You can tell he really loves Kentucky, loves basketball — and I’m the same way,” Aaron told KSR. “It’s really refreshing being around someone like that. I think players really pull to him because you can just tell he really, really cares. … I’m doing the same (following the team closely) this year, for sure.”
“He’s definitely a guy you want to root for, definitely a guy who bleeds blue and loves his job, loves what he does, loves being at Kentucky,” Andrew added. “A guy like that, you can’t help but root for him as he continues to find success at the program. I know he’s enjoying it so hopefully we all just keep supporting them as they get better every year.”
The Harrisons have always bled blue — but this past year was a little different for the duo.
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