Carrington was born on July 21, 2005, in Baltimore, Maryland.[1][2] The third in his family with the same name, he was nicknamed "lil' bub" after the nickname of his father, a basketball coach, later shortened to just "bub".[3][4] He attended Saint Frances Academy in Baltimore, where he played basketball, baseball and football.[1] He scored over 2,000 points in his high school career and after his junior year committed to playing college basketball for Pittsburgh, being ranked by 247Sports a four-star recruit, the 99th-best recruit overall, and the third-best player from the state.[1][5][6][7] He chose Pittsburgh over eight other offers.[6]
Carrington also was a member of Team Melo in the Nike Elite Youth Basketball League travel circuit, being named the EYBL Breakout Player of the Session and second-team All-Session while helping the team reach a spot in the championships.[8] As a senior at Saint Frances in 2022–23, Carrington helped the school have an overall record of 29–11 while going 11–3 in the Baltimore Catholic League (BCL); he was named first-team All-BCL and to the BCL All-Tournament team and averaged more than 26 points, seven rebounds, six assists and two steals per game.[1] He also led Saint Frances to the Maryland Interscholastic Athletic Association (MIAA) tournament, which they won for the second time in his tenure, with Carrington being named to the All-Tournament team.[9] He had shooting splits of .490/.380/.860 and set a Saint Frances record with a total of more than 1,000 points scored.[1] He was invited to the DTLR Classic, Jumpman Classic, R1A Classic, More than Basketball Game and to the MLK Classic, earning most valuable player honors in each while setting a MLK Classic record with 42 points scored.[1][10] He was named a Capital All-Star, played at the 50th Annual Hoop Culture Capital Classic, and was All-Tournament at the City of Palms and Triple Threat Classics.[1]
College career
Carrington joined the Pittsburgh Panthers for the start of the 2023–24 season and became an immediate starter.[11] He started in the exhibition opener against the University of Pittsburgh at Johnstown and the regular-season opener against North Carolina A&T. Against North Carolina A&T, he helped the Panthers win 100–52 while totaling 18 points, 12 rebounds and 10 assists for the first triple-double in a debut in school history and the second in Atlantic Coast Conference (ACC) history, also being the first overall to accomplish the feat at Pittsburgh since 1998.[11][12][13][14] He was named the ACC Rookie of the Week and received the honor again the following week, being the first Pittsburgh player to earn selection back-to-back since 2007–08.[4][15]
Carrington is the son of Carlton 'Bub' Carrington and Karima Carrington. He has two siblings, Kareem and Faith.[1] Carrington is a second cousin of retired NBA player Rudy Gay.[20]
