What a difference a year can make.This time last year, the Harrison twins were still in Texas finishing up some academic work. They arrived on campus just before the fall semester began, well after most of their teammates.They missed out on the offseason strength and conditioning workouts. They didn’t get the usual offseason crash course that freshmen need in a John Calipari offense. They were, as Coach Cal said, two and a half months behind because it took him half the season to figure out how they were going to play.All because the Harrison twins weren’t here in the summer.”By not being here in the summer, they got behind the 8-ball conditioning wise,” Calipari said Wednesday. “So it took us half a year to get them in condition so we could really see, ‘Alright, what exactly can they do?’ “The twins have been in Lexington this summer for offseason workouts and the pre-Bahamas practices, as have the rest of the 2014-15 Wildcats. Coming from someone who’s been around the program for more than two years now and knows what goes into the season, junior Alex Poythress said it’s made a world of difference in team chemistry.”It’s real advanced,” Poythress said. “People know the plays already. People know where to be at. Coming in as freshmen, a couple of us new, we didn’t have too many veterans. Last year we had me and Willie (Cauley-Stein), but this year we have six or seven guys that know what to do that’s been there and done that and know where to be at.”With more experience and fewer newcomers to break in, it’s allowed Coach Cal to accelerate this team’s growth.”I’ve got guys that understand so I can do it the way I used to coach, which is, ‘Get to the back and watch what they’re doing,’ ” Calipari said. “I talk them through. ‘You’re not at the front. You’re at the back and watch what they’re doing.’ And many of the things they’re talking each other through. Dakari (Johnson) is talking, the twins are talking, Alex is talking, Marcus (Lee) is talking. They’re able to talk to each other because they know what to say.But perhaps no two have benefitted more from experience and a sense of understanding than the catalysts of the offense, the Harrison twins.At this point now, compared to where they were a year ago, they’re stronger, they’re leaner, they’re faster and they’re more confident. Watching practice for the last couple of weeks as the Cats prepare for their exhibition tour in the Bahamas, it’s obvious they look and feel more at ease running the offense, particularly Andrew Harrison.”I’m a lot more comfortable,” Andrew Harrison said. “I feel like I take on a leadership role and I’m having fun with a lot of guys asking me questions and stuff, and I try to help them as much as I can.”It was difficult for them to lead last year because they didn’t know what they were doing. They didn’t know what they were doing because Calipari didn’t know how he wanted them to play. And Calipari didn’t know how he wanted them to play because they arrived on campus late, a factor that Coach Cal downplayed as the Cats struggled in the regular season but fully admits now.”I just think that they needed me to give them better direction,” Calipari said. “They needed me to basically better define their roles. But why do you think I had to wait so long? Why did it take me so long? Why didn’t I walk in the first day and say, ‘This is how you’re going to play’? … I wasn’t sure. Now, I could make it about me and say, ‘You’re going to play this way,’ or I could watch them play and say, ‘The best thing now that I’ve been with you for two months, the best way for you to play and us to play is this.’ And it took me two and a half months.”As everyone saw in March, when they got some experience underneath their belts, they took off.If preseason practices are any indication, they’ve done nothing but take last year’s postseason momentum and run with it.”They already know what we’re trying to do,” Calipari said. “There’s no anxiety. They’re comfortable out on the court where last year they were trying to figure themselves out, and that’s why you had that body language stuff. You don’t see any of that this year, and the only time they do anything like that is toward each other, like where they’re saying something to each other. Short of that it’s been pretty good.”Their late-season success last year made them think long and hard about returning for their sophomore seasons, but both decided to come back to try to capture that national championship they came so close to winning in April.When the Harrisons contemplated coming back, Calipari told them they would have to answer questions in their sophomore year that NBA scouts and general managers had of their game. He gave them those questions and they answered them on the spot, “one, two, three.””(The questions were), were we athletic enough or were we quick enough to guard our positions, and I think we worked hard this summer to prove that,” Aaron Harrison said.For one, both lost weight this season to get quicker, to jump higher and to guard better. Officially, Aaron Harrison is down to 212 pounds from 218 a season ago, and Andrew Harrison is down to 210 from 215, though Andrew said it was more like 222 last year.A change in their diets was the biggest factor in their change.”I feel a lot faster, a lot quicker, jump a little higher now,” Andrew Harrison said. “I feel like I’m the best player I can be right now.”Their commitment this offseason has helped them gain more trust from Calipari. Where last year’s practices reflected more of a teacher-student relationship – Coach Cal was doing a lot of instructing while the twins were doing a lot of listening – this year’s early-season practices feature more of a partnership. There is a little more constructive back and forth between Calipari and the Harrisons, there is less bad body language, and there is a lot more leading from what look like the two team captains.”He saw how hard I worked over the summer and how committed I am to this,” Andrew Harrison said. “I know how committed he is and we just have an understanding.”Said Calipari: “They had habits they had to understand weren’t going to work. Let me tell you something: If you’re doing something your whole career and it gets you a scholarship to Kentucky, the most coveted scholarship in the country … and you did certain things to get you that offer … your first thought is, ‘This got me here, I’m going to go with it.’ But what got you here, a lot of times, isn’t going to get you there, to that next level.”It took the Harrisons nearly a full season to grasp that. And as crazy as it seems to comparatively call a pair of 19-year-olds wiser and more mature, they are.”You just got to mentally be ready for practice when you go in every day and go in to get better,” Aaron Harrison said. “That comes with getting older and being mature and just taking it more serious.”An extra summer – one they didn’t have a season ago – has just been icing on the cake for their ongoing development.”I think it was just us realizing how much work it actually takes to be great,” Andrew Harrison said. “Just realizing or just getting that confidence you had back in high school, just feeling like you’re the best player. That’s what it really was.”