We are pleased to report a landmark event in the proud history of Stanford Athletics. Settling all rampant speculation as to whether fourth-year head coach Trent Johnson will be getting a much-debated contract extension, Scout.com
Pan-Asian Recruiting Analyst Nan-Yang Wu is now reporting, in close
coordination with TheBootleg.com, the verbal commitment to Stanford University
of two literally towering two-sport student-athletes, 7'8" Chinese twin
brothers Chen-Lo Chen & Xien Chen. A full report will be soon
forthcoming when Nan-Yang has had adequate time to finish his story and post the
transcripts of his lengthy telephone interview which was conducted very late
last night, Beijing Time (Chinese Standard Time).
The Chen Twins, who just turned 16 two weeks ago, were born in Guangdong,
China where they soon became a regional phenomenon in youth developmental
leagues, later making a dramatic impact as dominating first-year starters with
the prestigious Weilun Sports School. After just one year at Weilun, they
were reassigned by the provincial authorities and are now the unquestioned stars
of the elite Guangdong Sports Technology Institute, which is known for
producing many of China's Olympic basketball players. Under head coach Cheung
Wei-leung, the GSTI, with the Chen Twins dominating inside presence, has
compiled a stunning 97-0 record in inter-provincial play since 2006. Only three
weeks ago, GSTI defeated Beijing's highly-regarded Shichahai Sports School
of in the district finals, two nights after a 111-65 semi-final win over
traditional power Jiangsu. News of the Chen's intention to play college sports
in the U.S., came as a considerable blow to the hometown fans in China, ardent
supporters of the Guangdong Southern Tigers of the Chinese Basketball
Association, who see the brothers as the future key to a "Chen
Dynasty".
Basketball and volleyball players of considerable skill and even more
staggering potential, this is surely the recruiting story of the year in the
Pac-10 and possibly the nation. "The Chen brothers' commitment, while
obviously only verbal and non-binding at this time, has to be thought of as the
'Signing of the Century' in the conference", said former UCLA head coach
and current ABC & ESPN television commentator Steve Lavin, reached this
morning at his home in West Tarzana, CA, "The most formidable challenge
will be to convince them to forsake their backcourt orientation. Believe it or
not, these kids grew up playing as a guard tandem and while obviously not as
nearly as quick off the dribble as a Darren Collison or an OJ Mayo due to their
obvious size and ridiculous length, each appears to possess ball-handling skills
equivalent to those of an average Pac-10 point guard. I definitely think
you will see Trent use them to bring the ball up against full-court
pressure." Adds Scout.com's Wu, "With this signing, Stanford has put
itself back squarely in contention for future Pac-10 prominence that many feared
could decline with the eventual departure of the Lopez Twins. UCLA, Arizona and Oregon have all been landing outstanding four- and five-star recruiting classes
and Stanford was certainly behind the eight-ball until this stroke of good luck.
The 'Twins' thing seems to working not just for Coors Light®, but for the
Stanford Cardinal as well!"
Trent Johnson, the "Anne and Tony Joseph Director of Men's
Basketball", is obviously unable to comment publicly on the Twins'
recruitment until after National Letter of Intent Signing Day (Early Period),
which is November 16, 2009. Coach Johnson is known to be a real stickler for
observing rules and regulations, especially since he currently serves on the
National Association of Basketball Coaches (NABC) Special Committee on
Recruiting and Access, a select group of prominent Division I-A coaches who
suggest ways to provide a more equitable and informational recruiting process
for the potential student-athlete and to enhance the educational opportunities
for student-athletes while in college.
It really shouldn't be too surprising that Stanford University, with its
international reputation for both academics and athletics, along with its
attractive West Coast location and large ethnic Chinese population, would
eventually land players from mainland China. Approximately 300 million Chinese
are playing hoops today, or roughly the equivalent of the entire U.S.
population! During an unofficial campus visit in mid-January, the Chen brothers
(who express interest in majoring in electrical engineering) and their parents
reportedly developed a high comfort level with the Chinese cultural
representation on the Stanford campus after interacting with several student
organizations including the Association of Chinese Students and Scholars at
Stanford (ACSSS), the Stanford Chinese Institute of Engineers (SCIE), and the
Chinese Christian Fellowship at Stanford (CCFS).
Well-known internationally, but heretofore relatively low-profile in American
basketball circles due to 1) concerns over college eligibility and 2) the fact
that Chinese players are not tracked by the Scout.com or Rivals.com recruiting
prospects databases, the Chens, who measure in bare feet an imposing 7'8
¼" [2.343 meters], 248-pound (Xien) and 7'7 ¾" [2.33 meters],
256-pound (Chen-Lo) have occupied a prominent place (to say the least) on the
Cardinal's recruiting radar since the day Johnson took over for longtime head
coach Mike Montgomery in 2004. Their verbal commitment comes on the heels of a
recent notice of clearance from the NCAA with regard to their eligibility to
play basketball in the United States. The Twins, who also play volleyball at an
internationally high level (both literally and figuratively) as members of the
Chinese 18 & Under national team, have played on several competitive
basketball club teams in China and while they themselves did not receive any
monetary compensation, many of their teammates and opponents were paid for
playing. In November of 2007, the Chen family hired an experienced NCAA
compliance & eligibility consultant, Dr. Eberhard Kistler, who
previously helped solve the eligibility issues that had led to the suspension of
former USC center Kostas Charissis for the first 15 games of the 2001-02 season.
Dr. Kistler was also successful in settling club team ineligibility issues for
Marist College's all-conference player Tomasz Cielbak who was suspended
mid-season for 11 games that same year.
With more than two years of additional growth remaining before enrollment on
the Farm, the Chens will in all likelihood become the tallest-ever college
players in America, already taller than UNC-Asheville's not-so-gentle giant,
7'7", 360-pound junior center Kenny George. Despite his slowness of foot,
George's impressive wingspan of 101½ inches allowed him to shoot a
nation's-best .696 from the floor in 2007-08. The Chens' wingspans are
reportedly 105 ¾ inches (Xien) and 103 ¼ inches (Chen-Lo) respectively and
each is considered to be a willing, if not polished shot-blocker. Says
Scout.com's Wu, "While UNC-Ashville's George remains a definite
work-in-progress, many international scouts feel the Chens are ready for
Division I competition right now. There is no question that these kids can use a
couple of years in the weight room under the guidance of Stanford Basketball's
strength & conditioning coach Juan Pablo Reggiardo, who is excited about
working with the Twins: "Physically, they are built more like Curtis
Bortchardt than the Lopez brothers, but they are nowhere near as frail as say,
(former 7'7" NBA player) Manute Bol."
Comparison have inevitably been made to Yao Ming, the currently injured
7'6" center who has played for the NBA's Houston Rockets since 2002 and
whose NBA success has created an obsession with basketball in the planet's most
populous nation. Let's state for the record that the Chens are nowhere near as
strong or sturdy as Yao and probably never will be. But the potential is
certainly there: case in point - the Chens had to be fitted in Hong Kong last
September for custom Nike-made shoes in a 29 GGG, a full seven sizes bigger than
Bob Lanier's famous size-22 bronzed shoes that sit in the National Basketball
Hall of Fame (Current Phoenix Suns star Shaquille O'Neal is known to wear size
21 EEE or 22 G sneakers). If they continue to grow taller, and barring injury,
the Chens will eventually become the tallest players in both collegiate and NBA
history. The tallest NBA player on record was actually not Bol, but 7'7"
(2.31 meter) Gheorghe Muresan, whose remarkable height was the tragic result of
a severe pituitary disorder. Fear not, Cardinalmaniacs™, the Chen Twins aka
"The Great Wall of Cardinal™" appear to be "naturally
tall", quite unlike their fellow countryman Sun Ming Ming, a 7'9"
Chinese who suffered from a benign brain tumor impacting his pituitary gland
that created an over-production of growth hormone, a potentially deadly
condition known as "acromegaly" and often referred to as
"gigantism". (Fortunately, Sun had the tumor successfully removed).
Showing confidence in the twins' health prospects following an on-campus
physical that included a full screening by the Department of Endocrinology at
the Stanford School of Medicine. Joked Stanford's Visiting Professor of
Paracrinology Dr. Rainer Mangold following a four-hour examination and battery
of tests, "I am not sure what to call the Chens' condition, except maybe
"Acute Final Four Syndrome."
Also complicating the Twins' recruitment has been "timing". There
has been considerable concern among top Chinese sports officials that the Chens,
playing in the Pac-10 against stronger upperclassmen, could be injured and be
rendered unavailable for the 2012 Summer Games in London (the XXX Olympiad),
which would be considered a virtual national disaster for the People's Republic
of China. It must be understood that there is tremendous pressure for top
Chinese players to subordinate their personal ambitions to the national interest
of the country. It was ultimately determined by a local committee that the
brothers would risk no higher likelihood of injury playing in the U.S. that they
would in their own home country where playing surfaces and equipment are not
always up to international standards. The Chen family also agreed to a
stipulation from the provincial government that the brothers would not play
pick-up games or participate in snow- or water-skiing, snowboarding,
skateboarding, indoor ski-racing, or motorcycle-riding during their time in the
U.S. The Guangdong government has taken out an eight-figure (USD) insurance policy with the China Life Insurance Co., the largest insurance company in the country.
Born in Guangdong, interestingly on March 19, 1992, the very same day Adam
Keefe and the then-12th-seeded Cardinal fell to #5 seed Alabama 80-75 in the
Southeast Regional of the 1992 NCAA tournament in Cincinnati, Ohio, neither
brother is considered to be developmentally superior to the other, although it
is safe to say that they are far more advanced offensively than defensively at
this point. Stanford Basketball's Reggiardo also urges a reasonable measure of
patience from the Stanford Fan Base: "There will be a considerable learning
curve and a real strength issue during the first year or two. The Chen's
previous training has focused primarily on flexibility, speed and agility and
both are sorely lacking in upper body strength. We expect them to make
tremendous strides between their first and second year in the program. The may
not be yoked yet, but they run like gazelles. I got serious goose-bumps watching
them in drills!"
As was the case with the Lopez Twins, there is a sensible explanation for why
the Chen Twins were able to remain low under the national recruiting radar.
There is a family connection. The Chens' paternal uncle, Mr. Stephen Tsukung
Chen, was a member of the Stanford Class of 1984 and has provided the Twins with
an assorted array of Cardinal gear since the boys were toddlers. An electrical
engineering major himself, Chen spent a number of years with South Bay
high-speed memory patent company Rambus, where he was notably responsible for
licensing RDRAM memory to Sony for use in the PlayStation 2, which made him a
celebrated hero in the eyes of his nephews and their friends. The Twins have
been following Stanford Basketball closely ever since the Final Four run of 1998
and they often argue over who gets to be "Stanford" when playing their
admittedly pirated version of NCAA Basketball 2001 ("We need a newer copy,
but we like the old!"). Their interest in Stanford as a collegiate
destination was elevated even further after a warm and memorable encounter with
current U.S. Secretary of State and former Stanford Provost Condoleezza Rice at
a 2007 New Year's Brunch Buffet held at the American Club in Beijing, hosted by
the aptly-named Stanford Club of Beijing. The Twins' attendance was apparently
arranged by the twins' paternal grandfather, Chen Mingming, a native of Shandong
Province who is of Han nationality. The elder Chen was born in 1950 and
graduated from Beijing Foreign Languages Institute and holds an LL.B from the
National University of Singapore. He is a former Deputy Director of North
American and Oceanic Affairs with the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and currently
serves as the PRC's Ambassador to New Zealand and the Cook Islands. (http://www.chinavitae.com/biography/Chen_Mingming)
The Chen family, who has been outspoken about the primacy of educational
opportunity in determining the young men's future, reportedly came away highly
impressed after a lengthy discussion with Dr. Rice regarding the successful
balance of athletics and academics by twins at Stanford, including the Collins
Twins and the Lopez Twins.
There appear to be some interesting back stories to the Chens' low-profile,
but intense recruitment, which included interest from Georgetown, Duke, UConn, Washington, Ohio State, Xavier, Kentucky, North Carolina and Florida. We have
learned that newly-appointed WCC Commissioner Jamie Zaninovich, a
highly-regarded former Stanford Basketball marketing director, was nearly
successful in brokering an arrangement to send the Twins to University of San
Francisco in a skillfully-designed package deal to lure Mike Montgomery or Steve
Lavin to the WCC and simultaneously secure a long-term contract with FSN for the
conference. FSN parent News Corp's Rupert Murdock is said to have become very
interested in penetrating the Chinese sports television market after reading the
best-selling global business book, The World is Flat. As some of our readers may
recall, in December of 2007, Lavin was rumored to be considering returning to
his hometown of San Francisco and coaching at USF starting with the 2008-2009
season. There was actually considerable interest in USF prior to the receipt of
the Twins' scores on the TOEFL (Test of English as a Foreign Language). The
Chens's maternal great-grandfather, Willie "Woo Woo" Wong was born and
raised in San Francisco's Chinatown and became a well-known basketball player at
Lowell High and later starred for the University of San Francisco under
legendary Cal coach and renowned big-man specialist Pete Newell. Wong, who only
stood 5'5" was one of the first notable Chinese-American basketball players
in this country. The Twins have visited San Francisco on two occasions and
during their most recent visit in 2007 enjoyed Dim Sum (Siu Mai - pork dumplings
and Woo Gok - deep-fried, pork-filled taro dumplings) at the Ton Kiang
restaurant on Geary Street with KNBR sports radio personality and passionate USF
alum Ralph Barbieri, who has a preexisting, well-established relationship with
the family dating back to the mid-1990s. In a telephone (VOIP) interview with
Scout.com late last night, Xien, who converses in English slightly more
comfortably than his younger sibling (by twelve minutes) Chen-Lo, showed a sense
of American humor by calling the meal "The Best Damn Dim Sum Period"
(a pop cultural reference to an FSN sport talk show) and then signing off
cheerfully with Barbieri's trademark "Angels Fly Because They Take
Themselves Lightly", which Xien said he and Chen-Lo learned while listening
to KNBR on the internet at their family home in Guangdong.
Impact on Stanford's Recruiting: While the Chen Twins should be
a disruptive force for the rest of the country, but shouldn't upset the
Cardinal's current apple cart at all. With 6'10" '08 committed recruit
Miles Plumlee and '09 California prospects 6'9" Brendan Lane and 6'7'
Anthony Stover more likely to project as more traditional 4s, Stanford has been
rather desperately searching for a long-term solution at the "5" and
they appear to have that locked down for years to come. A source within the
Stanford Basketball office, speaking on condition of anonymity, stated that the
staff recently concluded that five-star 2010 center Jeremy Tyler of San Diego is
projected as more of a "3" at the NBA level, even if he grows to
6'11" and is not likely to be discouraged by the landing of the Chen
brothers.
Mark your calendars for November of 2010 when a new weekly gathering of
hardcore Stanford Basketball fans will congregate. What will this new group be
called? Why naturally, the "Council of Chens™"
Stay tuned for more updates on this exciting development for Cardinal men's
hoops and the overwhelemed reaction from Men's Volleyball coach John Kosty!
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