Markus and Tyler are averaging 0.0 points per game - combined. Though they're sleeping through the night OK, neither seems to understand the offense, and both are a ways from figuring out this whole taking-it-one-game-at-a-time thing.
Yet if you've only followed college basketball casually these past few months, all you know about Maryland women's basketball is that Markus and Tyler, the recently delivered fraternal twins of coach Brenda Frese, joined the team last month. From ESPN to USA Today to The New York Times, that has been the season's dominant story line.
What you probably haven't heard is this: The Terps - the actual players, not the newborns - are in better position to make a run in the NCAA tournament than two years ago (when they won the whole thing) and certainly better than last year (when pressure and expectations contributed to a second-round exit).
"A lot of people don't talk about us," says Crystal Langhorne, who was named Atlantic Coast Conference Player of the Year this week, "and we kind of like it like that."
Two years ago, when a young Terps team sneaked its way through the NCAA tournament, it was fueled by the proverbial chip on its shoulder.
In contrast, last season, all eyes were on the Terps to defend their title, and it became too much. Seventh-seeded Mississippi upset the defending champs.
As the Terps begin postseason play tonight, in the ACC tournament, this season's players again feel they're not getting the respect and acclaim of other powerhouse programs. Frese is past the point where she has to deliver an emotional speech and toss around an underdog label.
"Our team knows," says Frese, who returned to practice this week and is expected to be with her team tonight. "We watched the game [the other] night and any comment that's made about Maryland is a negative comment. We get it. We understand it.
"The greatest thing is, that's how they disrespected this team two years ago, too."
Unless the Terps find a way past North Carolina and win the ACC tournament this weekend, they'll likely enter the NCAA tournament as a No. 2 seed, just as they did in 2006. That season's team was young enough that many expected Maryland to become a regular among the very small group of women's basketball elite. But losing so early in last season's NCAA tournament has altered the dynamic and meaning of this year's postseason.
With essentially the same core, what the Terps do this year will be used as evidence to argue that either the title was a fluke or last year's early exit was.
For years, parity has struggled to maintain a footing in the women's ranks. The exclusive top tier of teams seems to be invite-only, and not many invitations are extended.
In the past 20 years, Connecticut and Tennessee have combined for 11 national titles. The only other school to win more than once was Stanford (1990 and 1992). Other strong programs would occasionally poke their head through the surface and threaten to stick around - only to quickly disappear. Is Maryland to become a perennial force - a Connecticut or a Tennessee - or are the Terps merely a temporary tourist among the game's elite?
What happens in the next month - with a group more experienced, more talented and more confident than ever - will go a long way toward answering that question.
Few analysts seem to note this, but this season's team is markedly improved over the championship product from two years ago. Point guard Kristi Toliver was erratic then. Today, she has blossomed into one of the nation's top players. Toliver says in the past year, she has finally "stepped into the role that everybody wanted me to be in."
"We're just a mature group," she says. "I think that's kind of the difference from last year, when we weren't as mature on every level."
Though they've been a highly ranked team all season, in basketball circles the Terps seem to be on the perimeter of any conversation about title contenders. But they've lost only twice - at Rutgers three months ago and in double overtime at North Carolina in January.
Connecticut is the only team in the country that has played a tougher schedule. The Terps faced 14 schools in the Rating Percentage Index's top 60, including eight in the top 25.
They've beaten a team by 54 points, two teams by 48, another by 42 and another by 40. In January, they clobbered Clemson by 64.
"This team is different this year just because they're having so much fun," Frese said. "They love to come to practice, they're so coachable, they're working extremely hard. ... They're just enjoying it. That's what it's all about. When your mind-set is in a great place, they believe in themselves, they believe in each other, it's a completely different feel. This team has a swagger to them, a kick, and really a renewed sense of confidence."
Though many of the faces are the same, it's not like last season, and it's not really like the season before either. The pressure is gone and the passion is back.
It's not that these Terps have to win. Or that they simply want to win.
This time around, they know they can win.
rick.maese@baltsun.com