USC men’s basketball could be a lot of fun — and maybe a little confusing — once twins Adonis and Darius Ratliff make their collegiate debuts.
Which one is which, fans might wonder at first? Why are the 7-footers both spending so much time on the perimeter?
Don’t worry, they have their coach’s permission. Each of the twins said the 3-pointer is a big part of his game. That’s especially true for Adonis.
“Coach Muss [Eric Musselman] told me he wanted me to break the single-season USC 3-point record,” Adonis told The California Post on Friday, “so based off that I just knew how much confidence he had in me.”
More than anything, the incoming freshmen from White Plains, New York, who will tower over teammates, want to take the Trojans to new heights after three consecutive seasons of missing the NCAA Tournament.
“Definitely changing the narrative,” Adonis said of his goal. “We want to bring USC basketball back.”
They’ll have help from fellow McDonald’s All-American Christian Collins, a versatile forward who will also arrive next season after starring at St. John Bosco High in Bellflower. The twins competed against Collins on Friday at the Jordan Brand Classic all-star game at El Camino College in Torrance.
Playing together with so much height represents double trouble for opponents. The twins combine traditional big-man skills with elite athleticism and strong outside shooting.
“I’m more of a wing and I can bring the ball up, come off the pick and roll, make decisions and guard the smaller guys on the court, too,” Adonis said. “[Darius] is a very good rebounder, he blocks shots, can defend at a high level and can also come out and hit shots.”
USC had one big advantage over other suitors when it came to landing the twins.
Musselman had coached their father, NBA All-Star center and power forward Theo Ratliff, as an assistant with Atlanta when Ratliff played for the Hawks in the early 2000s. An exceptionally strong defender, the elder Ratliff — who is 6-10 — led the league in blocks three times.
Adonis and Darius also liked that Musselman had coached another set of twin brothers, Caleb and Cody Martin, who were part of a Sweet 16 run in the NCAA Tournament at the University of Nevada. Caleb was the Mountain West Conference’s Player of the Year in 2018, while Cody became the Mountain West Defensive Player of the Year.
Cody was selected in the second round of the NBA draft, and Caleb now plays for the Mavericks after going undrafted.
Musselman envisioned similar success for his new set of twins.
“He told us he could make us into pros, and he could put us in the right positions for us to succeed,” Adonis said. “He also told us he knew how to make it easier for both of us to play together on the court and how we could thrive and play off each other.”
The twins’ versatility allows them to play together without clogging up the paint, sometimes wowing with a two-man game that leads to easy scoring opportunities.
“It’s pretty remarkable,” Darius said.
Even if his brother takes more 3-pointers, also expect to see Darius launching plenty of shots from long range.
“I feel like it’s the reason that we got recruited so high and the upside that I have,” Darius said, “because nowadays there’s a lot of bigs who can shoot, but there’s not a lot of bigs that can come and shoot with efficiency and then bring the 5 out and stay in help side to get the guards to work the big.”
Getting to know the twins requires absorbing subtle differences.
“Off the court, we’re both jokesters, also quiet at the same time and keep to ourselves a little bit, too,” Darius said. “On the court, I feel like I have more of like a killer mindset — he has a killer mindset, too, but he’s more mellow, shifty, and I’m trying to go at people.”
However they want to play for the Trojans, just having so much talent around could be twice as nice.