By Kelli Anderson

Extraordinary height and athleticism is nearly a given in this family. The twins' mom, Deborah Ledford, who was an elite swimmer in her teens -- at 16 she swam the second-fastest time in the world in the 400 individual medley -- is 6' 3/4", and her three brothers are between 6' 8" and 6' 10 1/2". Her 6' 7" father, Bob Ledford, was once a pro basketball prospect. (In 1949 he turned down a tryout with the NBA because he could make more money teaching school.) The twins' 6' 5" father, Heriberto Lopez, whom Ledford divorced in 1994, played baseball in his native Cuba, and his late 6' 3" cousin Marcelino Lopez pitched on five major league teams between 1963 and '72. Alex, now 31 and 6' 10", played four years of Division I hoops, and their 6' 7" brother, Christopher, now 26, played through high school.

After Robin eventually followed Brook out to the driveway to learn the game, the four boys would often split into teams: Brook with Alex, and Christopher with Robin. (The latter two were named for A.A. Milne's hero of the Winnie the Pooh stories, which, as either twin could tell you, became a Disney franchise in 1961.) "Those games were fierce," says their mother. "Their older brothers showed no mercy. They made the twins work."

Alex and Chris were not the twins' only hoops tutors. Another was Ade Kido, a family friend and former high school and AAU coach who lives in Southern California. Kido worked out the twins whenever Ledford could find the time to load the boys into the family van and drive the four hours from Fresno to Brea -- about five times a year. Kido emphasized fundamentals like dribbling, passing, jumping and blocking shots -- "using the wrist, not swatting with the whole arm," he says. Whenever one of the twins blocked one of Kido's shots correctly, Kido rewarded him with a comic book from a list of titles the boys had helpfully provided.

Afterward they would go to Disneyland, although not as often as the boys would have liked. Following the divorce, Ledford raised the four boys alone on a schoolteacher's salary, moving her family from Southern California to Oak Harbor, Wash., near the University of Washington, where Alex played for two years, and then, when Alex transferred to Santa Clara for his final two years, to her hometown of Fresno, where she still teaches German and math at West Clovis High.

When Brook announced in second grade that he intended to play at Stanford and then the NBA, Ledford, who had earned her degree in German from Stanford in '71, was delighted. She fostered that goal by supporting the boys' interest in sports -- both Brook and Robin would star in volleyball and earn McDonald's All-American honors in basketball at Fresno's San Joaquin Memorial High -- and encouraging them to develop a wide range of other interests. Brook played the saxophone and Robin the drums, and through middle school and in high school Brook had roles in four plays, including Lieutenant Schrank in West Side Story. (Both twins played marauding Cal students in last fall's Gaieties, Stanford's annual pre-Big Game theatrical spoof.) Literature was another big interest: Even as little kids the twins would cart around weighty tomes like The Odyssey, The Iliad, a German dictionary and an encyclopedia of Greek mythology. "I remember them carrying that encyclopedia around when they were 11," says Chris. "I said, 'You haven't read that, have you?' They had read it from cover to cover."

The twins also have every song Michael Jackson recorded, going back to the Jackson Five era; Brook listens to the King of Pop's 1987 hit Speed Demon before every game. ("They are probably [Jackson's] biggest fans," says teammate Landry Fields, stating what could be both the literal and figurative truth.) They continue to devour video games, animated Disney films and the aforementioned comic books. You could call it research: Along with a few friends, they have created five main cartoon characters they would have star in comic books, animated films and other media that they hope to create and produce. "We've already made up about 25 stories for them," says Robin.

Their immediate concern is fleshing out a story line that includes challenging for the Pac-10 title and taking Stanford further than its last set of twin towers -- Jarron and Jason Collins -- did in 2000, when the Cardinal lost in the second round. The Lopezes could use some perimeter help from junior sharpshooter Lawrence Hill, who recently found his groove after a prolonged shooting slump. "We don't really see ourselves as a top 10 team," says Robin. "We think we still have a lot to prove and a lot to improve."

If the Lopezes can help the once unranked Cardinal go deep into March, the story of their season could rival that of one of their favorite Disney features -- released on Valentine's Day 1950, nominated for three Academy Awards and traditionally animated (of course) -- Cinderella.