Zion Harmon explains how his winding hoops journey brought him back to Kentucky
AI-generated summary reviewed by our newsroom.
- Zion Harmon returns to Kentucky and joins Georgetown College for 2025-26.
- Harmon moves through multiple high schools and colleges, building scoring resume.
- Georgetown coach Briggs expects Harmon to add scoring punch and veteran depth.
Chris Briggs has a distinct memory of the first time he saw Zion Harmon play basketball.
Harmon was an eighth grader running the point for Bowling Green High School in the 2016-17 King of the Bluegrass. Briggs, the Georgetown College men’s basketball coach, was in the stands at Fairdale’s annual holiday tournament to scout Purples forward Kyran Jones.
It was the dynamic little Bowling Green point guard, though, who kept grabbing Briggs’ attention.
“He had (the ball) on a yo-yo, and he kept hitting these elbow pull-ups, boom, boom, boom,” Briggs said. “I said, ‘Damn, we’re watching, like, little Allen Iverson.’”
In real time, Briggs would have never dreamed he would one day be coaching Harmon.
Yet, when Georgetown College held its media day at the newly renovated Davis-Reid Alumni Gym on Tuesday, there decked out in the home white No. 0 uniform of the Tigers was none other than Zion Harmon.
After playing for three Kentucky teams in what was a legendary, if itinerant, high school basketball career, Harmon, has made three-time NAIA national champion Georgetown his fourth stop in college hoops.
“All the stops I’ve had are stepping stones,” Harmon said Tuesday. “They (have) all been learning moments. They’re gonna help me in my journey, not in a year, but in five, six years.”
Expedia might have short-circuited trying to plan out all the basketball travels of Zion Harmon. Moving to Kentucky from Tennessee as a middle schooler, he helped Bowling Green to the 2017 Kentucky state title by averaging 17.3 points in four Sweet 16 games as an eighth grader.
Playing for Adair County the following year as a freshman, Harmon averaged 32.7 points. For his sophomore year, he transferred to Marshall County but was not cleared to play by the Kentucky High School Athletic Association. Harmon wound up playing for Bella Vista Prep in Arizona.
Harmon led Bella Vista Prep to the de facto 2018-19 national championship by winning the Grind Session tournament. He went for 23 points, nine rebounds and six assists in a 96-94 win over SPIRE Institute and current Charlotte Hornets guard LaMelo Ball in the finals.
As a high school junior, Harmon became eligible at Marshall County and averaged 25.4 points while leading the Marshals to a 1st Region runner-up finish in 2019-20.
The following year, playing a schedule abbreviated by the coronavirus pandemic, Harmon averaged 22.3 points. He ended the Kentucky part of his high school hoops career with 2,760 total points.
Zion Harmon’s college basketball path
Harmon’s trek through college hoops has been every bit as transient.
He signed with Rick Stansbury and Western Kentucky for the 2021-22 season but never played.
Over the next two seasons, Harmon played for former NBA guard Reggie Theus at Bethune-Cookman, a private university in Daytona Beach, Florida.
Harmon performed well enough with Bethune-Cookman — averaging 13.7 points as a redshirt freshman in 2022-23 and 14.6 as a sophomore in 2023-24 — that he got a crack at power-conference basketball. In 2024-25, he transferred to Seton Hall of the Big East to play for former Saint Peter’s head man Shaheen Holloway.
However, after Harmon appeared in only three games at Seton Hall, he made the decision to return to Bethune-Cookman for 2025-26. Yet, once back in Daytona Beach, Harmon did not find the situation to be what he had expected.
So he said he told his agency to seek another landing spot for him.
Late this past summer, Briggs said he got feelers asking if he would have an interest in Harmon coming to Georgetown.
“I had a couple calls and texts about, ‘Maybe he’s looking to get out of where he was’ down at Bethune-Cookman,” Briggs said. “To be honest, I wasn’t sure about it. And, you know, I got on the phone with a couple people and talked through it.
“(They said Harmon) just wanted to be somewhere where he’s happy and have a chance to win and be around good people. So we’ve welcomed him in and are looking forward to, once he learns the system, learns the style, to him being a big factor for us. He’s still super, super talented.”
Harmon said his former Bowling Green High School teammate Kyran Jones — whom Briggs did succeed in recruiting to Georgetown — put in a good word with him about the positives of playing for the Tigers.
“He said it’s just a high-level place, (has had) a lot of DI transfers,” Harmon said of Jones. “People seem to excel coming from Georgetown, so I said, ‘Why not be a part of it?’”
With Georgetown incumbent starting point guard Darien Lewis returning and the Tigers adding a promising incoming freshman lead guard in Chance Dillingham, Harmon will likely be asked to primarily play off the ball and be a scorer.
“He shows those flashes where he can just take over and score any time he wants,” Briggs said. “But the most important thing, he’s good mentally. Seems to be in a good mind frame. Seems happy. It’s nice to see him walk around campus and have a smile.”
Though Temple Hills, Maryland, is still listed as Harmon’s hometown, it is Kentucky that has been the base for his best basketball moments.
“It feels great, just being back here in Kentucky, the Bluegrass State,” Harmon said. “All the love I get here is amazing. It feels amazing to be back.”
This story was originally published October 24, 2025 at 7:00 AM.
