From http://www.thehawkeye.com:
www.thehawkeye.com/story/Soukups-POY-031512Twin towers
Soukup twins lead Danville to state title.
By CHAD DRURY cdrury@thehawkeye.com
Michael and Steven Soukup are identical twins, but that's not the only thing patterned the same.
Their style of basketball is mirror-image as well.
The Danville High School basketball players, the All-Hawk Eye Co-Players of the Year for boys basketball, are almost one in the same. Stop one on the court, and the other steps up and hurts teams in the same way. It's like double-vision, only it's not.
"We were pretty much brought up to play the same way," Michael Soukup said. "We've learned a lot from each other, and we know each other's strengths and weaknesses. We can tell each other how to improve and what we're doing well on the floor."
"We've played against each other a lot," Steven said. "We just kind of key off each other. I think of lot of it is just repetition, so we kind of know what the other is going to do. We just try to do whatever it takes to get the team going."
The junior twins have been burdened by expectations since they cracked the starting lineup as freshmen. They've helped lead the team to back-to-back runner-up finishes at the state tournament, and reached the Class 2A substate game as freshmen before the Bears decided to play to their enrollment.
"You just try to ignore the pressure and try to improve each day," Michael said. "Then you hope things fall into place."
Both players went over 1,000 points for their careers this season, with Steven reaching the milestone first. Currently, Steven has scored 1,247 points to Michael's 1,144. But scoring isn't the only thing they do well. They are both 6-foot-5, so both rebound well. They also come up with assists and steals. They're deadly from 3-point range and at the free-throw line. They could probably play all five positions on the floor with no trouble.
Yet, neither would concede the other is better.
"It just depends on the day," Steven said. His brother agreed.
This season, both had phenomenal years in leading the Bears to a 27-1 record, with the only loss to Boyden-Hull in the 1A state championship game.
"It was a good season for us overall," Michael said. "I thought we made a lot of strides. Everyone knew the expectations were going to be high, so we just tried to step up our game to reach those expectations."
"This season was a lot of fun," Steven said. "We accomplished a lot of goals that we set as a team. We didn't win the championship, but looking back, it's still been a good year."
Coach Ken Laffoon has repeatedly discussed the twins' value and their ability to lead on the floor, and how the offense runs through them. At times, the brothers are "coaches" on the floor, instructing teammates on where to be and what to do.
"It's great that coach Laffoon has that trust in us," Steven said. "He's always told us that he can only guide us for so long, but that it's a matter of relaxing out on the floor."
"When he says those things, it's a very high compliment for us," Michael said.
Steven led the Bears in scoring for the second straight year, averaging 18.5 points per game. He also shot better than his brother from the field (57 percent to 53 percent) and at the free-throw line (77 percent to 75 percent). He also was a better rebounder with 6.7 per game.
Michael had the edge in 3-point shooting (43 percent to 36 percent) and with assists per game (5.8) and steals per game (3.4). Still, both were named first-team all-state by the Iowa Newspaper Association and made the all-tournament team once again, with Steven captaining the group.
If this offseason is like the last one, basketball will almost be a full-year thing. Last year, there were plenty of open gyms, AAU games and summer camps to compete in. Danville went 38-2 over the course of four summer camps.
"We really went back to it right away last year," Steven said. "We had more open gyms as we got ready for the season. Most of those were designed to develop some depth for our team and to be ready for game situations. We wanted to be prepared for anything we'd see during the season."
Both players believed there was also good chemistry this season, one of the reasons why the team was able to easily run the table in the SEI Superconference South Division and get back to Des Moines.
"I think the chemistry is due to the fact that we've played together for a long time," Michael said. "Everybody knows everybody else's tendencies, and that's what made us successful."
Going into the season, the brothers thought they might have caught everyone by surprise by finishing second to St. Mary's a year ago. This year, they were No. 1 for essentially the entire season.
"Everyone on the team thought we'd get it accomplished this year and win it all," Steven said. "We had a lot of talented players coming back, so that was the focus for us all year."
Next season figures to be more challenging as the Bears will graduate starters Collin Bartsch and Josh Stevens among six seniors on this year's team.
"A lot of guys will have to step up and play bigger roles," Michael said. "I think we're going to be more guard-oriented next year, but we still hope we can get back to state again."
The brothers are getting serious looks from NCAA Division I schools. The
University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee, a Horizon League member, has already come forward with an offer, but Iowa, South Dakota, Northern Iowa, Creighton and Drake have also been in contact.
"It's nice to know there are offers on the table because we appreciate it," Steven said. "There is an evaluation period in April that will be probably our biggest chance to show the colleges what we have."
So far, no college has offered a scholarship to one or the other. The twins have played basketball together since they were 4, and they'd like to finish it that way.
"We've let colleges know that if it works out, we'd like to be a package," Michael said. "We've played together all our lives. I think it benefits both of us the most."
Link to photo:
www.thehawkeye.com/viewImage/BKH-Soukup-Twins13-jpg