Keegan Harvey ‘27MBA, one of the newest additions to the Bryant men’s basketball team, recently got his first car since moving to the U.S. from Australia in 2019. For the fifth-year transfer from George Washington University, the purchase was necessitated by the commute from an apartment in Providence to Bryant’s Smithfield campus. But the 6’ 11”, 240-pound forward says the move to Rhode Island — and a reunion with new Bulldogs’ Head Coach Jamion Christian — will put him in the driver’s seat on a career that’s had a few bumps in the road. 

A native of Newcastle, New South Wales, a port city on Australia’s east coast, Harvey was a civil engineering major as an undergraduate and is utilizing his remaining two years of NCAA eligibility as an MBA student at Bryant. Basketball has always been a part of his life: he grew up under the tutelage of his father, Tom, an American emigre who played basketball at Duquesne University before a professional career playing in Argentina and Australia.  

“Having him as a mentor was really inspiring because he got to see the mistakes he made in terms of his skill development, decisions, and coaching, and amend those to make sure that I was on the right path,” says Harvey.  

After starring in a U-18 youth league in his native country, Harvey moved to the U.S. to attend Montverde Academy, a Florida college prep school with one of the top basketball programs in the U.S. Playing alongside future NBA players like the Detroit Pistons’ Cade Cunningham, the number-one overall pick in the 2021 NBA draft, and 2022 Rookie of the Year Scottie Barnes of the Toronto Raptors helped Harvey land a basketball scholarship to the College of Charleston.

As a sophomore, Harvey transferred mid-season to George Washington University, where Christian was coaching at the time. What seemed like a promising step up in competition level was sidetracked when a combination of coaching changes (including Christian’s departure) and injuries limited Harvey’s contributions on the court; he appeared in just 20 games off the bench in three seasons with the Revolutionaries. 

So, when Christian, newly hired this year to coach the Bulldogs, came knocking at his door a second time, Harvey was ready to make another move.  

“Keegan is one of the smartest people I’ve ever come across in recruiting,” says Christian, while Harvey lauds his coach for his honesty and fairness: "Above all else, Jamion wants his players and people around him and people in his life to succeed and maximize their potential. His emotional intelligence allows him to get the most out of his players without having to play mental games like some other coaches do.” 

“Keegan is one of the smartest people I’ve ever come across in recruiting."

Harvey, who considers himself a more European style player in the mold of Denver Nuggets all-star center Nikola Jokić, also sees a good fit with Christian’s coaching style, honed in the past three years coaching in the top tier of Italian basketball. 

“It’s like poetry in motion the way this offense goes,” explains Harvey, noting that everyone on the court in Christian’s “positionless” system is expected to be able to move, pass, and shoot – even the big-bodied players like Harvey. 

“That's where I feel like I come into my skill set, being a knockdown shooter ‘big,’” he says. Harvey’s court vision makes him a good passer, and he’s a big believer in Jokić’s philosophy that, “A point makes you happy; an assist makes you and your teammate happy.” 

Improving his defensive skills is one of Harvey’s goals at Bryant, and he has been working on adjusting to the more physical style of American basketball ever since his prep school days.  

“In Australia the refs don't like to reward the ‘bully-ball’ style of play, but in America, it’s an undisputed aspect of the game,” he says. “You have to have some 'grunt' about you, almost like a football player in that way: just take the contact.”  

“In Australia the refs don't like to reward the ‘bully-ball’ style of play, but in America, it’s an undisputed aspect of the game. You have to have some 'grunt' about you."

Countless hours in the gym alongside his teammates have improved Harvey’s ability to both absorb and deliver the kind of physical play needed to compete at the NCAA Division I level. When he’s not working out or at practice, Harvey has also built a following as a TikTok influencer — not about basketball but his other passion, music. 

Started as a way to relieve boredom during COVID-19, when he was stuck on a deserted GW campus and unable to return home to Australia, Harvey’s “Keeganconsciousness” TikTok currently has over 138,000 followers attuned to his tidbits of band trivia, music reviews, occasional guitar noodling, and observations on America vs. Australia, among other topics. 

"I do everything from classic rock — I was very into Pink Floyd — to house music and DJing and ‘indie sleaze,’ experimental Midwest rock, ‘shoe gaze,’ and techno,” he says, adding, “I love that Americans are really getting into Aussie surf rock, which is like my bread and butter because that's what I grew up on.”  

As Harvey settles into a new home, a new school, and a new team, Christian sees a bright future ahead for his past and current player.  

“Keegan’s maturity and understanding of our system, but more importantly the way that we look to empower people, will be pivotal to the success of the season,” he says. “His experience and his hunger for the game are going to allow him and his teammates to truly find their highest level of competition.  

“He has always been someone who has loved basketball and the process of getting better. This will be a lot of fun watching him get the opportunity he has earned along the journey.”