Jarron Collins
Jason Collins
By Chris Umpierre
Daily Bruin Staff
One would be a handful, but when you put both on the court at
the same time, it’s double the trouble.
No. 1 Stanford is 36-1 when the Collins twins, Jarron and Jason,
play together. The North Hollywood natives, who seriously
considered coming to Westwood out of high school, will make their
final return to Los Angeles as a duo this Saturday.
Opponents have been lucky in the sense that this has been the
first full season where the two brothers have played side by side.
Jason, Jarron’s older brother by eight minutes, was hampered
by a number of injuries his first two years at Stanford.
“We were always afraid we would have to deal with four
years of what they’re doing right now,” Cal Head Coach
Ben Braun said earlier in the year.
What they are doing right now is giving Stanford arguably the
best front court combination in the country. Jason averages 14
points and eight rebounds while Jarron averages 13 points and seven
rebounds.
Stanford Sports Information Senior power forward Jarron
Collins will be one of Stanford’s best weapons against the
Bruins Saturday. “Just last week the duo combined for 45
points and 13 rebounds to help Stanford dismantle Washington
99-79.
Because of Jason’s injuries and two medical redshirt
seasons ““ Jason is a sophomore and Jarron a senior ““
this season could be the last time the duo plays in the same
uniform.
We know this is probably the last time we’ll be on the
same team playing together, so that’s a weird feeling,”
Jarron said in January. “We don’t dwell on it.
We’re just trying to win everything we can in this last
year.”
Jason is an inch taller than the 6-foot-11 Jarron but you can
tell them apart by the fact that Jason has longer hair and has
earrings. Jason, a center, enjoys playing on the perimeter more.
Jarron, a power forward, usually positions himself under the
basket.
With both players on the floor, teammates feel comfortable
driving to the rim knowing one of the Collins twins will be there
to rebound. They feel self-assured when an opponent drives past
them because the twins will be there to erase any problems by
either swatting the ball into the stands or intimidating the
shooter.
“We seem to get more confident when those two come off the
bench back into the game, because we know when we get the ball to
them, it’s one dribble and a basket,” Stanford senior
forward Ryan Mendez said. “We also know that our rebounding
is going to be much stronger, and I feel more confident dribbling
to the basket when they’re in there.
“The Collins twins play with so much confidence and play
so well together, they make all of us more confident,” he
added.
Jason is coming off a game against Washington where he scored a
career-high 33 points and pulled down eight boards. He was 13 of 14
from the field, with his only miss coming when he misfired on a NBA
range three-pointer at the end of the game.
In a very scary development for opponents, Jason is even
stepping out to nail shots from downtown. Against Washington, he
was 4 of 5 from three-point range.
Jarron told the Contra Costa Times after the game that he was
full of pride to see his brother have such a big game considering
all the hardships he has had to endure during his college career
due to injury.
“I’m just so proud of my brother,” Jarron
said. “For the adversity he’s gone through to have a
game like this. I’ve seen him dominate games in high school,
but this was special.”
Jason played in just one game his first year at Stanford because
of a knee injury. He missed the next year because of a dislocated
wrist.
Cardinal Head Coach Mike Montgomery says the twins were the two
most highly rated players that “Stanford basketball has ever
recruited.”
And to think the twins, who were McDonald’s High School
All-Americans, nearly chose UCLA after graduating from
Harvard-Westlake High School.
According to Harvard-Westlake basketball coach Greg Hilliard,
the Collins twins were all set to come to Westwood until the now
famous Jim Harrick fiasco occurred.
“The brothers were originally looking at UCLA, then
Stanford, then Arizona. But after the situation at UCLA and a
positive visit to Arizona, they changed to Arizona and Stanford,
then UCLA,” Hilliard told the Arizona Daily Wildcat in
1997.
Then-UCLA Head Coach Harrick had been recruiting the duo when he
invited the twins, recruit Earl Watson, some assistant coaches, and
a few current Bruin players to what seemed to be an innocent
dinner.
Harrick later lied on the dinner’s expense report and was
immediately fired. Unsure about the head-coaching situation at
UCLA, the twins decided to look elsewhere.
“Basically it was an unfortunate situation,” Jarron
said. “A man lost his job. I didn’t know anything wrong
was going on (at the dinner).”
Hilliard said they chose Stanford because they wanted to play in
front of their maternal grandfather, who is wheelchair bound and
lives in San Francisco.
A lot of people in North Hollywood still haven’t gotten
over the careers of the Collins twins at Harvard Westlake. During
the brothers’ junior and senior seasons, they led Harvard
Westlake to a 66-4 record.
In their final year, the school was 36-1 and earned a No. 1
ranking among all teams in California. Jason is the school’s
all-time leading scorer with 2,379 points. His brother is second
with 1,677 points.
Their careers were so special, the school did the unusual task
of retiring Jason and Jarron’s high school jerseys after
their senior season. An audience of more than 1,000 gave the duo a
standing ovation at the ceremony.
The brothers say things have worked out better than they had
thought they would at Stanford. Jason says he’s learn to deal
with injury and Jarron says he’s learned to live away from
home.
The only regret is that they hoped to have a chance to play more
with each other. That’s why they are making the most of this
season, their final one together.
“I told him before the season, “˜This is our
year,'” Jason said. “This is our chance to do
what we want to do.”