Backcourt brothers are double trouble

Penn State's Joe and Jon Crispin will challenge Penn's senior backcourt Saturday. Penn senior guards Michael Jordan and Matt Langel have been playing together for a good long while. The two have been paired in Fran Dunphy's starting lineup in each of their four seasons in Red and Blue. But the Quakers guards have nothing on the Penn State backcourt. Nittany Lions starters Joe and Jon Crispin have been playing together for almost 19 years. The brothers Crispin -- junior point guard Joe and freshman shooting guard Jon -- probably started off with something simple like building blocks or jigsaw puzzles, but they have now progressed to the grown-up game of Big Ten basketball. "I think any time you play with somebody for so long, you have an idea of what they're doing on the court," Joe Crispin said. "We both appreciate it a lot more than we did when we were in high school when it was expected. It's become a real joy." To start alongside your brother in one of the premier conferences in college basketball is a laudable achievement in itself. Still, the Crispins are not about to sit back and revel in their own accomplishments. "Both of those guys are very competitive," Penn State freshman guard Brandon Watkins said. "They are each the type of player that will make sure that everybody's head is always in the game." The Nittany Lions (4-0) backcourt has been a cornerstone of their success thus far. In last night's 85-75 home victory over Clemson, the Crispins scored 31 total points -- 24 for Joe and seven for little brother Jon. The elder Crispin was red hot from behind the arc, hitting on 5-of-10 three-point attempts. Last night's stellar showing against the Tigers is indicative of the job done by the brothers in each of Penn State's four victories this season. They have combined for 31.5 percent of their team's total offense. The younger Crispin has also emerged as a formidable outside threat. He was shooting 47 percent from three-point land before last night's contest. Any way you look at it, the Quakers will need to key in on the Crispins when they play host to Penn State this Saturday at 4 p.m. "They both can play, and there's no doubt that they have unlimited range," Jordan said. "We're just going to need to come out strong and guard them from the start." Jordan and Langel are no strangers to the Crispin clan. Langel and Joe Crispin were high school foes, as both Langel's Moorestown High team and Crispin's Pitman High squad were South Jersey powerhouses. Although Jordan never tangled with Pitman during his prep days at Abington Friends, he did play against the elder Crispin last summer in Philadelphia's Sonny Hill League. Jon Crispin also played in the league, but Jordan never saw him in action. The Nittany Lions soundly defeated the Quakers 71-55 last December. While many expected Penn State to have an off year after a pair of tough graduation losses, the Lions may be equally tough this year, thanks in large part to the addition of Jon Crispin. Last year, the Penn State offense relied heavily on scoring from then-sixth-year-senior point guard Dan Earl and dominant center Calvin Booth. Those two veterans combined for 28 points against the Quakers last season but have since left Happy Valley. Enter Jon Crispin. While Earl and Booth provided senior leadership at the point and the post, the younger Crispin provides a much-needed spark of athleticism and clutch shooting. In short, Crispin is emblematic of a quicker, more dynamic Penn State attack. "They are definitely going to be a different team this year," Jordan said. "They are going to show us a lot of new sets." Crispin may be a breath of fresh air in Happy Valley, but he's no stranger to the State College atmosphere. The brothers have been close throughout their lives, and this did not change when Joe went away to school three years ago. "He always liked the school," Joe Crispin said. "He came up here a lot when he was still in high school. I think it was always in the back of his head that he wanted to come here." It also seems that Crispin's transition to Big Ten basketball has been rather painless. "He's been around here for a while," Watkins said. "He knows a lot of what's going on, and he fits his role quite well." After merely four collegiate games, it is premature to speak definitively of Jon Crispin's role on this Penn State squad. By most accounts, however, he will provide the same brand of feisty floor leadership his brother has demonstrated, while also packing the power necessary to take it to the basket with ferocity. If Jon continues on his present trajectory, Penn State's success this year will truly be a family affair.