High school coach expects Harrison twins to enter NBA Draft

The man who coached Andrew and Aaron Harrison in high school expects the twins to enter this year's NBA Draft.

"They came close last year," Craig Brownson said of the Harrisons entering the 2014 NBA Draft. "I was glad they came back.

"It wouldn't surprise me at all if they decided to come out."

Brownson, who coached the Harrison brothers for Travis High School in Richmond, Texas, said he did not have direct knowledge of the twins' decisions.

The expected mass exodus of players from Kentucky's basketball program will become official Thursday.

UK has called a news conference for 2:30 p.m. Thursday. UK players who are ready to announce their NBA Draft decisions, as well as Coach John Calipari, will be at the news conference.

In addition to the Harrison twins, the players expected to leave UK are Willie Cauley-Stein, Karl-Anthony Towns and Trey Lyles.

On Monday, Calipari suggested that between five and seven players might enter this year's NBA Draft.

Other possibilities include Alex Poythress, Devin Booker and Dakari Johnson.

The NBA's deadline for applying to be an early entrant in the NBA Draft is April 26. The NBA's deadline for withdrawing from the draft is June 15.

When it was suggested that the Harrisons came to UK with the idea of staying one season, thus following the multiple examples set by the program's many one-and-done players, Brownson said, "That's kind of my thinking."

Brownson said that the twins might think that returning to UK for the 2014-15 season didn't dramatically improve their NBA Draft profiles. The Harrisons were projected as late first-round or early second-round picks in 2014.

As for this year, "Everything I've seen has them in the second round," Brownson said. The Harrisons might be thinking, "'I don't know if staying helps me,'" the Travis High School coach said. "I wish they stayed. But it definitely wouldn't surprise me (if the Harrisons entered their names in this year's NBA Draft)."

There's a perception that staying in college more than one season, especially at a Kentucky program synonymous with one-and-done players, would be interpreted as a player deficient in some way.

Do the Harrisons see validity in this way of thinking? "Unfortunately, they probably do," Brownson said.

This story was originally published April 8, 2015 at 3:12 PM with the headline "High school coach expects Harrison twins to enter NBA Draft."