In late October, shortly after Josh Harrellson recorded a whopping 26 rebounds in the Blue-White Scrimmage, head coach John Calipari wondered out loud whether Harrellson’s big night was his hard work or the byproduct of a glorified practice.Harrellson didn’t take too kindly to Calipari’s words.The next day on Twitter, for everyone to see, Harrellson tweeted out his dismay with his coach’s comments. Harrellson was subsequently punished and sentenced to a month’s worth of conditioning. Fast forward four months later and Harrellson is still doing the conditioning. He’s not averaging quite two dozen rebounds a game, but he is second in the Southeastern Conference in rebounds per game (8.9) and leads the league in offense rebounds per game (3.8).On Monday, a full regular season since Harrellson’s fateful tweet and a day from Harrellson’s final home game at Rupp Arena, the evolution of Harrellson has come full circle with the most recent comments from Calipari.Make no mistake about the words this time — these were definitely a compliment, quite possibly the highest badge of approval a coach can have for his player.”I don’t know if I’ve ever coached a player that has gotten more out of his body and his skill level and his athleticism than Josh Harrellson, and I’ve coached a lot of players,” Calipari said.It’s been that type of season for Harrellson. Before this year, Harrellson had only scored 151 points in his two years at Kentucky. During last year’s Elite Eight run, Harrellson hardly even sniffed the floor, playing a total of 88 minutes behind the likes of DeMarcus Cousins, Patrick Patterson, Daniel Orton and Perry Stevenson.When he did see the floor, he was often unproductive. By season’s end, Harrellson had accepted his role as the jokester of the team and seemed destined for that role again this year when UK signed Turkish big man Enes Kanter.During UK’s trip to Canada for a three-game exhibition series, Harrellson continued with his joking ways until the coaching staff gave him an ultimatum.”He had a choice between beating it, getting out of here or changing,” Calipari said. “And he changed.”Harrellson is still a goofball – he still loves the nickname “Jorts,” calls himself a “big kid” and is asking fans to wear denim on Senior Night in honor of his fashion fad – but he’s become one of the hardest working players on a team that has so desperately needed him without Kanter.”He’s been, since the change, different habits, different body, different mentality, almost a fear of, I’ve got to do this now,” Calipari said. “He’s a totally different player and I’m proud of him. He went from 35 minutes in a season to maybe being nominated all-conference.”Who knew 140 characters could alter a young man’s life.”It could have been a really long season,” Harrellson said of what would have happened to his season had he not tweeted, got in trouble and faced Calipari’s pre-practice conditioning punishment. “I probably wouldn’t be the player I am today. I probably wouldn’t be doing the stuff I’m capable of doing.”Though his on-court production has seen its biggest strides this season, Harrellson’s development hasn’t been a one-year wonder.In high school, Harrellson said he was a better baseball player than a basketball player and said his head coach had to convince the freshman coach just to keep him on the team.”I couldn’t make a left-handed layup and I used to have to stay an hour after practice just to learn how to do it,” Harrellson said. “Then, I started making left-handed layups and forgot how to make a right-handed layup.”Harrellson said he didn’t have a great work ethic in high school, but a 6-foot-10 frame led him to Southwest Illinois College and eventually to UK as a sophomore under former head coach Billy Gillispie. Harrellson endured a bumpy ride his first year, hitting a low point when Gillispie told him to go stand in a bathroom stall during halftime of game. Still, Harrellson wouldn’t throw his former coach under the bus, even giving credit to Gillispie for some of his development.”Without him, without boot camp, I probably wouldn’t have been able to do the stuff I did at the beginning of the year, all of the conditioning Coach Cal made me do for tweeting,” Harrellson said. “Without the way he coached and the way he pushed us, without him making my mental mindset tougher, I probably wouldn’t have been able to compete and get through the stuff I did this year.”When Calipari joined Kentucky and he signed the nation’s top recruiting class, most figured Harrellson would be one of the players on the way out. Calipari said Harrellson was never on the chopping block.”A lot of people expected me to leave,” Harrellson said. “There was, at times, people would send stuff like, ‘You need to leave.’ But I just looked aside from that and was like, ‘You know, I’m here, I’m going to stay here, I’m just going to work hard.’ And finally the rewards are paying off now and everybody that was saying I should have left back then, they’re probably glad I’m staying now.”Harrellson hasn’t given up playing basketball in the NBA or overseas, and Calipari believes he has a shot of making some money off the game. If his basketball future doesn’t work out, Harrellson said he’ll likely put his degree in corporate finance to use in public relations. He also didn’t rule out teaching because of his love for kids.Whatever the future holds for Harrellson, his dream of making an impact at Kentucky finally came to fruition. It only took a tweet to force him into the spotlight.”It’s just been a long, long journey and this year’s been rewarding as it can be for me,” Harrellson said. “Since I’ve been here my sophomore year, actually seeing the benefits and the rewards my senior year, that’s all I can ask for. It’s been a great ride.”Harrellson will be honored Tuesday night before the Vanderbilt game as the lone senior on Senior Night. Kentucky, which is fighting for the East’s No. 2 seed for the Southeastern Conference Tournament, cannot afford to lose to the Commodores. Vanderbilt can clinch the No. 2 seed with a win over UK.