Sporting News, The: A rare triple double

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A rare triple double

Corrie Anderson

Jim Thorpe was a twin. John Elway is a twin. Ronde and Tiki Barber currently are the country's most prominent set of sports twins. But rare is the occasion when both members of the pair are successful athletes on the same team, and it's even more rare when two sets of those athletes play against each other. But three sets?

UAB's Donell and Ronell Taylor faced off against Oklahoma State's Joey and Stephen Graham last week--the Grahams won, 86-73--and the Taylors could play against Derrick and Errick Craven if UAB meets Southern California in the Rainbow Classic next week. Clearly, it's time to find the differences amid all this similarity.

DONELL AND RONELL TAYLOR

School: UAB

Identical? No

Older brother: Donell

Birthday: July 26, 1982

Division I points combined: 652

                  Donell     Ronell

Height, weight   6-6, 180   6-5, 180
Position         G          G
Year             Sr.        Sr.
Number           1          2
2004-05 stats    16.2 ppg   9.2 ppg
                 5.8 rpg    2.2 rpg
                 4.0 apg    1.4 apg

Twins tidbit

Donell and Ronell have nearly identical tattoos. The newest are on their right forearms and read: "I am my brother's keeper."

JOEY AND STEPHEN GRAHAM

School: Oklahoma State

Identical? No

Older brother: Joey

Birthday: June 11, 1982

Division I points combined: 1,793

                   Joey     Stephen

Height, weight   6-7, 225   6-6, 215
Position         F          G
Year             Sr.        Sr.
Number           14         21
2004-05 stats    18.1 ppg   8.4 ppg
                 5.3 rpg    5.9 rpg
                 1.0 apg    2.0 APG

Twins tidbit

Their father, Joseph, was a pilot in the Air Force, and both brothers have pilot's licenses.

DERRICK AND ERRICK CRAVEN

School: Southern California

Identical? Yes

Older brother: Errick

Birthday: July 4, 1983

Division I points combined: 1,448

                 Derrick     Errick

Height, weight   6-2, 215   6-2, 205
Position         G          G
Year             Sr.        Sr.
Number           24         22
2004-05 stats    3.5 ppg    9.0 ppg
                 2.5 rpg    2.8 rpg
                 2.2 apg    1.7 apg

Twins tidbit

Derrick and Errick, the only identical twins in the bunch, are as different as night and day. "Derrick never seems to know where Errick is, and Errick never seems to know where Derrick is," says USC assistant Mike Johnson. "They're completely different people."

SCOUTS VIEWS

Observations from the sidelines

Washington guard Nate Robinson is putting in the work. You have to be aware of him. You have to understand that he's going to be in attack mode the whole time. He's a triple-threat guy. Are you going to take away the drive? How far are you going to lay off of him? He's shooting the ball from deep 3 right now. Your only saving grace is that his size (5-9) allows you to be in push-back mode and still get a relatively decent challenge on his 3. You know he's going to bring it for 40 minutes. He is ridiculous right now. If you're thinking about getting off at the offensive end, he'll torch you.... Oklahoma State is lucky to have a senior guard like John Lucas. He can take the ball where he wants to take it. Plus, he's a threat offensively and can score. He's a really good shooter. I used to think that at Baylor he wasn't a great defender or ballhandler, but I don't think that now. We would push up on him early, but with better players around him he became better. He's a more confident guy. They ran flex at Baylor, and it was pattern-oriented. At Oklahoma State, he's been introduced to a more free-flowing offense.... Western Kentucky has itself a candidate for freshman of the year in the Sun Belt. Courtney Lee out of Indianapolis is one guard that got away from the Big Ten schools. He's a terrific shooter--he can catch and shoot with a quick release--and the game comes effortlessly to him. He's posting outstanding numbers already and is impacting games defensively.... With Chris Paul at the point for Wake Forest, you have to try and limit his touches once he gives the ball up and make backcourt teammate Justin Gray work hard. You have to try and make those guys defend. I'm not sure how much better those guys are defensively this year. But, with Paul, Gray and Taron Downey, you have to try and slow down their offense.... Freshman Toney Douglas can get it any way he wants it. He's not Auburn's best player, but he's a legit scorer. We zoned him and never left him on the perimeter.