DOUBLE FEATURE STANFORD'S LOPEZ TWINS, VALLEY NATIVES, ARE A TALL ORDER FOR PAC-10 FOES TO HANDLE.

Byline: MATTHEW KREDELL

Staff Writer

Now they're called the twin towers, the dominant inside presence in Palo Alto that USC knows all too well.

Thirteen years ago they were the twin terrors, known for running around and sometimes on the court during Campbell Hall High of North Hollywood basketball games.

Brook and Robin Lopez, Stanford's 7-foot tall freshmen starters, return to what they call their second home this week to play USC at Galen Center today and UCLA at Pauley Pavilion on Saturday.

The brothers were born in the San Fernando Valley, where they spent their early years before moving away prior to second grade.

Their first baskets were made in the backyard of the family's Granada Hills home.

"We definitely think of it as a hometown," Robin said. "We had a lot of friends there and it was sad to move away."

They learned to play basketball from older brothers Alex and Chris.

Alex, who went to Campbell Hall, returned to the Valley after college and is the varsity basketball coach at El Camino Real of Woodland Hills.

Alex is 6-foot-10 and played in college at Washington and Santa Clara. He taught Brook and Robin how to post up and use their size to their advantage on defense.

"It's funny, I used to play them one on two from when they were 7," Alex said. "Then their freshman year in high school it got tough because I had to go really hard to the key or they'd block my shot. Now it's to the point where I have to stay outside and shoot or they are going to swat my shot. It paid off for them because they are ferocious inside."

USC knows that first-hand. Brook had 18 points, 11 rebounds and a Stanford-record 12 blocks to beat the Trojans on Jan. 25 in Palo Alto. Robin added three blocks and Stanford blocked 19 as a team.

Tim Floyd called Brook's performance the most dominant by an opposing player in his two years as coach of the Trojans.

"They kept attacking the basket," Brook said. "I thought they'd stop after about five blocks."

Deborah Ledford, mother of the boys, graduated from Stanford. She's over 6-feet tall with a father and brothers who are all at least 6-7, so most of the boys' size came from her side of the family. Their father is 6-4.

Alex chose Washington over Stanford and regretted it. When he was getting homesick after his first year at Washington is when Ledford, recently divorced from the boys' father, moved the family to Washington.

Alex later transferred to Santa Clara, and the family moved nearby to Fresno.

"The kids were in the backseat listening to the conversation (about Alex's regrets in going to Washington)," Ledford said. "And that's when Brook said to me, 'You know mom, before I play in the NBA, I'm going to play at Stanford.' "

So it was long a foregone conclusion that the twins would end up with the Cardinal, though they did consider returning to their birthplace and going UCLA or USC as a backup plan in case they couldn't meet the higher academic standards for athletes at Stanford.

"If there was one coach who worked harder than any other coach in the nation to recruit them, it was Henry Bibby," Ledford said of the former USC coach. "Whenever there was an open period, he was there. And most of the time he didn't send an assistant but came himself."

Bibby was fired midway through the 2004-05 season, and Ledford said the Lopezes didn't really hear from USC after that. Of course, neither the Trojans nor UCLA had much of a chance since the twins did qualify for Stanford.

Brook and Robin used to be easy to tell apart. Brook had the closely cropped hair and Robin had the long mop top.

However, Robin recently had his hair cut similar to Brook's. Their mother says the best way to tell them apart on the court now is that Brook wears an armband.

On offense, they are easier to differentiate because Robin plays in the post more while Brook can shoot from the outside.

"I always knew they were good, but Brook has gotten a lot better since the last time I saw him," said USC forward Taj Gibson, who played against the twins at a few prep camps and then again in the teams' first matchup. "He's got some range on his jump shot and is facing up a lot more.

"They're two future NBA centers right there."

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3 photos

Photo:

(1) The last time Stanford played USC, Brook Lopez, left, blocked a school-record 12 shots, and twin Robin had three.

Nhat V. Meyer/San Jose Mercury News

(2) ROBIN LOPEZ

(3) BROOK LOPEZ