By Dennis Oda, Star-Bulletin
Cord, left, and Brad Anderson have been double trouble for teams playing Iolani this season.
Iolani twins Cord and Brad Anderson can leave dazed victims shaking their heads
By Pat Bigold
Star-BulletinBRAD Anderson knows exactly how long after his twin brother, Cord, he came into the world on Aug. 13, 1980 in a Kona hospital. "Twelve minutes," he will tell you without hesitation.
A tense 12 it was, too, according to their mother, Joan Anderson.
"The umbilical cord prolapsed (preceded the emergence of the next baby, cutting off the blood supply to him) and they had to do an emergency Caesarean," she said.
"Knives were flying and they got him out."
Brad no longer trails any play that far back. He can't afford to if he plans to time an alley-oop pass over the rim for Cord.
"I know Brad, and when he throws the alley-oop, it will be pretty much on the money," said Cord.
Anyone who has seen the twins (Brad is No. 32, Cord is No. 33) in action knows he's right. They represent the biggest reason why defending champion Iolani has been able to remain unbeaten (5-0) in the Interscholastic League of Honolulu.
The Andersons add an intriguing and daring dimension to a starting lineup that lost the scoring production of all-state forward Derek Christensen to graduation.
Despite having previously played only one season of varsity ball - in 1995-96 as sophomores at Hawaii Preparatory Academy on the Big Island - the twins have made an immediate impact in the ILH.
Their 6-foot-7 father, Brian, who was their HPA varsity coach, taught them the game in the thin, chilly air of Kamuela. From him, they also inherited the size for playing it.
Cord, at 6-foot-4, 205 pounds, and Brad, at 6-4, 212, raised eyebrows at the Iolani Classic, earning praise from many observers. One rave review came from the coach of the No. 1 prep team in the nation, St. John's at Prospect Hall (Frederick, Md.).
"They're exciting players," said the stern-faced Stu Vetter, not known for puffery.
Vetter saw them execute four alley-oop dunks and combine for 33 points against Canyon High of Anaheim, Calif.
Brad will tell you that Cord is the finisher while he is the one who likes to engineer plays. With seven more pounds of muscle, Brad enjoys mixing it up underneath while the lighter Cord excels in the finesse game. He has a vertical leap of 38 inches.
"They get the job done in different ways, but they are equally effective," said Iolani head coach Mark Mugiishi. "Cord is quicker, can run faster and jump higher - he has more explosion. But Brad is steadier, better balanced and does nice things in the post."
But they both can score.
In fact, Brad now averages 14.2 points after five ILH games. Cord averages 13.2. In preseason, Cord averaged 15.8 while Brad averaged 12.5.
When the Andersons came to Iolani, they repeated their sophomore year to ease their transition to a different academic regimen. That meant they had to miss a year of varsity sports and postseason play was ruled out for 1999.
The experience that bonded them with the Raiders was an 18-day basketball camp to the University of Indiana last summer.
"We went 11-2 in the 'large varsity division' at the Bobby Knight Team camp, and we really came together there," said Brad.
Iolani is not a very deep team, but the twins are 40 percent of what is arguably the best starting five in the state right now. All-state sparkplug guard Kirk Uejio, 6-7 shot-blocker Shawn Christensen, and Doug Jackson, who is rapidly turning into one of the league's most effective playmakers, form a constantly rotating offense that requires inside-out play from everyone.
Brad and Cord must field the same annoying questions that the Collins twins must field in the Stanford basketball program these days.
"We've been asked all our lives if we feel something the other twin feels," said Brad. "But I think it's just from growing up together that we've established the same skills and everything. We understand each other better than any other two guys on the court. But there is no ESP involved."
There's also the question of identifiability.
Mugiishi laughed when he said he's pretty certain he knows them apart, but he's not sure how well they know themselves.
When the Iolani yearbook came out last year and the Anderson twins looked at their pictures as managers of the volleyball team, they decided there'd been a mistake.
"The captions are wrong," said Cord.
"No, the captions are right," said Mugiishi.
To resolve the matter, they took the issue home to their mother and she said Mugiishi was right.
