46 replies to this topic

[Greg Pappas]

http://www.zagsblog.... ... ce-oct-29/

The Harrison Twins will announce Oct. 29 at Fort Bend (Texas) High School, Andrew Harrison confirmed to SNY.tv Monday night.

EDIT: This has been moved up to Thursday, October 4th.

The news was first reported via Twitter by Nick Jones.

Aaron and Andrew Harrison are considering Baylor, Kentucky, Maryland, Villanova and SMU and recently told SNY.tv they are hearing the most from three of those schools.

“Baylor, Kentucky and Maryland, they pretty much contact us on a weekly basis,”Aaron Harrison Jr. said at the Big Strick Classic in New York.

[You Play to Win the Game]

Glad to hear we're among the perceived final 3. To protect my sanity, I'll still assume it's Kentucky, but it's great to be in the running this late with such highly regarded recruits.

[Greg Pappas]

Glad to hear we're among the perceived final 3. To protect my sanity, I'll still assume it's Kentucky, but it's great to be in the running this late with such highly regarded recruits.

Yeah, that's how I see it too. If we do wind up with them, it'll be a big plus for the program for 2013 and (regardless of whether they stay just one year) likely beyond.

[Mike B]

Glad to hear we're among the perceived final 3. To protect my sanity, I'll still assume it's Kentucky, but it's great to be in the running this late with such highly regarded recruits.

Agree, any chance Kentucky and Coach Cal get investigated between now and the 29th.

[DJ MC]

Agree, any chance Kentucky and Coach Cal get investigated between now and the 29th.

I think the NCAA keeps an open investigation on Calipari running at all times to save start-up time and costs.

[DuffMan]

Are these guys expected to be one and done players or do they plan on sticking around for 2 or 3 years?

[BSLChrisStoner]

Are these guys expected to be one and done players or do they plan on sticking around for 2 or 3 years?

Both have the ability to be 1 and done, but don't know if anyone knows definitively if that is their plan.

[BSLMikeLowe]

This Andy Katz article is mostly about Dez Wells, but towards the end it mentions that the Harrisons are expected to be at UM on Oct. 12, for Midnight Madness (or whatever they're calling it now).

http://espn.go.com/m...lege-basketball

Don't sell Maryland short on the recruiting front, though. Turgeon is still trying to land two of the top four prizes in the class in Andrew and Aaron Harrison, a pair of perimeter players who said they will attend the same school. The Harrison twins are likely going to College Park for Midnight Madness on Oct. 12, according to a source. But Maryland will have to beat out Kentucky to land the pair from Texas, which would be a monumental task. Villanova, SMU and Baylor are also in the mix.

[BSLChrisStoner]

Bino and Turgeon apparently visited the Harrison's yesterday.

Matt Bracken / The Sun reported the following on the 23rd:

"Scout.com reported Sunday that the Harrison twins would visit Kentucky for Big Blue Madness. But Aaron Harrison Sr. told KentuckySports.com that their family hasn't made a decision on upcoming visits. On Saturday, Adam Zagoria, citing an anonymous source, reported that the twins are leaning toward Kentucky and the father is pushing Maryland. But InsideMDSports.com later spoke to Harrison Sr., who refuted the report."

[Chris B]

Harrison Brothers are now announcing this Thursday on ESPNU at 5 pm.

[bnickle]

I have no inside knoledge. Nor have I even tried to look for any but moving the date up would indicate to me it's Kentucky, especially since that is the way the twins appeared to be leaning. I think in one way the twins and the father are doing this so MD doesn't have to keep holding quality recruits like Roddy Peters or Rasheed Jordan at arms length waiting on the twins to decide.

[BSLChrisStoner]

Terps with and without the Harrison Bros.

Evan Daniels from Scout.com has reported (http://scouthoops.sc.../2/1227062.html) today that Andrew and Aaron Harrison will again meet with Coach Turgeon and Maryland tomorrow in Houston, prior to announcing their College decision Thursday.

You can read into that meeting tomorrow anyway you want. To me, nothing has changed in the recruitment of the Harrison Brothers for a considerable amount of time. Kentucky and Maryland have been the leaders, and the Brothers will choose one school or the other. The Terrapins Coaching staff has known that they could land the duo, and that they might not. The Terps have positioned the roster to handle the arrival of the Brothers should they choose to come to College Park. Maryland has also built up contingency plans if the Brothers head to Lexington.

Should the Twins decide to go to Kentucky, it will obviously be a blow for the Terrapins. Maryland has spent the better part of two years recruiting the duo. The hype of the recruitment has been immense, partly do the obvious point of it being two players, but also because of their prodigious individual talents.

From previous BSL interviews:

Dave Telep / ESPN: “Andrew Harrison is a pro point guard. He’s got the exceptional size and big game scoring ability. You can see him being an elite collegian and then spending a year or two in college. His brother is a better shooter and frankly, this may be the best pair of twins we’ve seen in a long, long time. They’re different and play off each other so there’s no stepping on toes.”

Eric Bossi / Rivals: “Andrew Harrison has outstanding size and strength and is more of a guy who can physically bully his opponents which is something Britt doesn’t do. Where Britt is like Harrison is that he doesn’t need to score to leave an impact on the game and that while he prefers to get others involved first, he can be a primary scorer when needed. Both (Harrison and Britt) could use some work on their jumper but of course with Andrew Harrison you get the bonus of bringing along his very talented twin brother Aaron.”

Jeff Borzello / CBS Sports: “I love the Harrison twins, but I think Andrew is the better prospect, without a doubt. He’s a 6-foot-5 point guard who can get to the rim at will and finish in traffic. Aaron is the better long-range shooter, but he’s not as versatile in the back-court as his brother.”

Scout.com has the Brothers ranked 2nd (Andrew), and 3rd (Aaron) respectively in their 2013 Rankings. CBS Sports, and ESPN both have them ranked 2nd (Andrew), and 4th (Aaron). Rivals.com has them 3rd (Aaron), and 4th (Andrew).

Clearly there is across the board consensus that these are two elite program-changing players.

Currently the 2013-14 Terps look like*

Guards: Faust (Jr) Howard (Sr), Allen (Soph)
Wings: Wells (Jr), Layman (Soph)
Bigs: Len (Jr), Cleare (Soph), Mitchell (Soph), Smotrycz (Sr), Dodd (Freshman)

*With 3 remaining scholarships available.

Quite frankly, if each of the 10 players above are in a Maryland uniform next year, the Terps will have a chance to be elite with-or-without the Harrison’s. If the Twins do decide to come to Maryland, the expectations entering next year will be Final 4 or bust.

If the Harrison’s go to Kentucky, all attention turns to Guards Roddy Peters, and Rysheed Jordan. Both Peters and Jordan are highly regarded in their own right, even if they are not headlining the recruiting rankings like the Twins. ZagsBlog.com previously reported that Jordan is visiting for Maryland Madness, and Peters might join him.

Thursday could be a great night for the Terps. Should the Brothers decide to announce for Kentucky though, the sky will not be falling for Maryland. The overall positives going on with the program right now are immense, and regardless of what the Harrison’s decide, the Terps are on the precipice of again being a program to be reckoned with.

[Mackus]

I think moving it up is a pretty bad sign for the Terps. Weren't they supposed to be attending Midnight Madness? Deciding before then seems pretty telling to me that it's gonna be UK. I guess you could argue that they are moving it up so that they are committed as Terps once Midnight Madness happens, but that seems pretty unlikely to me.

Still holding out some hope, but ready to move on.

[bnickle]

I think moving it up is a pretty bad sign for the Terps. Weren't they supposed to be attending Midnight Madness? Deciding before then seems pretty telling to me that it's gonna be UK. I guess you could argue that they are moving it up so that they are committed as Terps once Midnight Madness happens, but that seems pretty unlikely to me.

Still holding out some hope, but ready to move on.

Here is my thought and of course it's complete speculation on my part but it makes some sense.

The twins prefer Kentucky and ultimately they win out. It's their decision, all parents are going to let their kids ultimately make their college decision. At least most good parents will. We've heard that the father and family have a ton of respect for Bino and Turge. I think the parents and probably even the twins said, lets move this up so MD can get on with their recruiting. By making this decision before Maryland Madness, both Peters and Jordan, who at least one of which is supposed to be at Maryland Madness, can commit that night or possibly even sooner.


I mean I never really thought we would beat out Kentucky even with the family and Under Armor advantages. Still, Jordan, Peters or both is far from a bad fallback option. Maryland's arrow is still clearly pointing up.

[JHTerp01]

EB from the Junkies is tweeting that someone in the MD athletic dept who scooped him about Diggs committing & O'Brien leaving told him that Harrison Sr. is shopping for condos in Md. Obviously consider the source but EB was talking about the Turgeon hire before anyone else.

[JeremyStrain]

EB from the Junkies is tweeting that someone in the MD athletic dept who scooped him about Diggs committing & O'Brien leaving told him that Harrison Sr. is shopping for condos in Md. Obviously consider the source but EB was talking about the Turgeon hire before anyone else.

The junkies are surprisingly connected in this area, especially when it comes to MD athletics. I'd give it a little more weight than a run of the mill rumor.

[Mackus]

Don't get hopes up. Don't get hopes up. Don't get hopes up. Don't get hopes up. Don't get hopes up.

Would it be the greatest non-championship-winning local sports day ever if tomorrow the Orioles beat the Yankees for the AL East title AND the Harrison twins committed to Maryland?

[BobPhelan]

Don't get hopes up. Don't get hopes up. Don't get hopes up. Don't get hopes up. Don't get hopes up.

Would it be the greatest non-championship-winning local sports day ever if tomorrow the Orioles beat the Yankees for the AL East title AND the Harrison twins committed to Maryland?

Lol exactly what I was thinking. Would be incredible.

[JHTerp01]

Don't get hopes up. Don't get hopes up. Don't get hopes up. Don't get hopes up. Don't get hopes up.

Would it be the greatest non-championship-winning local sports day ever if tomorrow the Orioles beat the Yankees for the AL East title AND the Harrison twins committed to Maryland?

Was thinking about this earlier. How great would it be to be sitting there at OPACY watching us give NY the beatdown and get a text saying that the Harrisons committed? Conversely, these next few days could send me into a huge sports induced funk. But you gotta love being able to sit here and dream so big. What would you have said to someone a year ago if they told you we'd be sitting here with the Orioles definitely in the playoffs and POSSIBLY winning the A.L. East and had a 50% chance to land the Harrisons?

[Chris B]

If the Harrison Bros go to UMD, it is awesome two-fold. First, Maryland is truly back to being a hoops powerhouse. Second, they'd be out of the running for Peters, and Xavier desperately needs some recruits for 2013.