SEATTLE – Some of the connections between the Stanford and Washington men’s basketball teams run pretty deep.
Former Cardinal Tim Morris is now a member of the Huskies. Stanford point guard Mitch Johnson and Washington’s Spencer Hawes and Jon Brockman grew up playing together on the same AAU team.
But the most intriguing connection may be the friendship of Stanford’s seven-foot twin freshmen Brook and Robin Lopez, and Washington freshman forward Quincy Pondexter. The trio have known each other since third grade, and together made San Joaquin Memorial High School in Fresno one of California’s top high school teams.
Today the friends will go against each other for the first time since middle school when Washington (1-3 Pac-10, 11-4 overall) plays at Stanford (1-2, 9-4) at 7:30 p.m. at Maples Pavilion.
Pondexter said he has practiced against the Lopez brothers but hasn’t played in a game against them in some time.
“We’re really close, we’re like brothers,” Pondexter said. “It will be fun to play against them.”
While Pondexter may be able to give his new teammates some tips on how to defend the twins, he doesn’t think he’ll be too much help. The 7-footers are just too good. Both were McDonald’s All-Americans and with Brook’s early-season back trouble behind him, he’s now joined Robin in the starting lineup. That gives the Cardinal one of the more imposing front lines in the nation.
“They’re a challenge because when they’re in there together, it’s really tough to get a lot of things done on the inside because they take up so much space,” said Hawes, Washington’s own 7-foot freshman McDonald’s All-American.
“They’re two athletic, physical, really tall guys down low,” Washington power forward Brockman said. “Any time you can have that kind of height and pack it in the paint like they do, it makes it tough to get much work done around the rim.”
If the Lopez brothers were just tall, that would be one thing. But both are also talented players who can score, rebound and defend, and like Hawes are also comfortable running the floor. Robin averages 10.8 points, 6.8 rebounds and a Pac-10 leading 2.4 blocks, and Brook averages 8.3 points and 3.0 rebounds. Brook is the more versatile player and Robin is more likely to be planted underneath the basket.
“He can shoot the ball, he can penetrate, he can dribble, he can pass, he can do every aspect on the court,” Pondexter said of Brook Lopez. “Robin is scary to go against defensively because he is going to come for the ball and block shots and he rebounds hard.”
Washington was never in the recruiting picture for the Lopez’s, who Pondexter said were committed to Stanford at young ages (their mother swam at the school). But Romar still got good looks at the twins while he was recruiting Pondexter.
“I don’t think there’s a team that Stanford will face that won’t have problems with those guys,” Romar said. “They’re good, they’re aggressive, they play hard. They present problems.”
Washington, though, is in a better position to compete with Stanford’s size than it has been in the past. The addition of Hawes gives the Huskies the first legitimate post presence they’ve had under Romar, and Brockman is as physical a player as there is in the league. Brockman said practicing against Hawes also gives the team an idea of how to operate against that kind of size. But Brockman said it’s still quite a challenge facing two 7-footers.
“They are mobile, they can move to the outside, they can shoot, they’re going to be crashing the boards hard,” Brockman said.
Hawes said he played against the Lopez’s one other time, in his last AAU game in Las Vegas, where his team lost but he had 35 points and 15 rebounds. He said the toughest thing about the twins are their athleticism for their size.
“Brook’s more offensive minded,” Hawes said. “He has more skill on the offensive side with his moves. Robin defensively, he dominates that area more. Their games are a good complement for each other. They’re tough.”
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