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 was also part of the chess club. 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]
