Roundtable: Brandon Garrison’s Return
Brandon Garrison’s return for a second season with Kentucky was announced last week, and that was a significant development in terms of gaining an understanding of what next year’s team might look like.
The 6’10 soon to be junior averaged 17.3 minutes, 5.9 points (50.9% FG), 3.9 rebounds, and 1.9 assists per game for the Wildcats in the 2024-25 season.
Justin Rowland: I’ve always liked Brandon Garrison a lot as a prospect. He’s capable of doing so many things well on the offensive end of the court. Defensively, he looks lost sometimes and that has to improve in order for him to play a lot more minutes next season. Fortunately for Kentucky there are enough frontcourt pieces that they can hope for a Garrison breakout while having contingency plans lined up. My question is this: Garrison is a high usage player. When he’s on the court he’s in the middle of the action. He’s orchestrating a lot of the ball movement and he’s very active and involved. When he was good, he was really good and easy to think of as a great prospect. When he was off, he was definitely off, and those moments need to become fewer and farther between. We have to acknowledge that for a lot of the season Kentucky was much better in terms of +/- when Amari Williams played compared to Garrison. Having said all that, Garrison is a good piece to return because of the upside, the experience, and the versatility it gives the frontcourt. If he’s solid, that’s a plus. If he’s good or really good, and that’s possible, it raises the team’s ceiling a lot.
Jeff Drummond: The return of Brandon Garrison comes as something of a pleasant surprise. A lot of people around the program were sensing that he might be moving on at the end of the season. I think that’s why Mark Pope went out of his way to talk about how much of a “special player” Garrison could be in the future. His pitch must have worked. It’s always good to have experience and continuity back with a team. And it won’t force Malachi Moreno to be forced into heavy minutes before he’s ready. Garrison is offensively skilled but needs to bring more to the table on the glass and defensively in Year 2. I think he’s got the potential to be a really well-rounded player on both ends of the floor.
David Sisk: It is great for everyone involved that Brandon Garrison is returning for year two at Kentucky. He needs stability and development. It’s much better for him to stay and trust the coaches than to go to the third place in three years. Sometimes I think his biggest needs are emotionally. It’s always better to get that from individuals you know and trust. We also get the opportunity to see what year two of player development looks like under Mark Pope. A team also needs quality depth in the SEC. At worst, Garrison brings that. At best, those flashes that he showed last season in certain games can turn into consistent difference making play for a team that could end up going deep into March.
