Twin on Twin: Richmond's Bilney on Bilney

Rachael

Samantha

Who knows Rachael Bilney better than Sam Biley, and who knows Sam Bilney better than Rachael?

No one, we figured, so in addition to asking each Richmond twin to talk about herself, we asked her for some insight on the other (after all, they're are roommates whose cell phone numbers are a digit apart and they're finally going to be real teammates -- you know the kind that play on the floor at the same time? You see for the first time since the beginning of their freshman year, both redshirt juniors are healthy.

Is that sound Spiders coach Michael Shafer knocking on wood?

Sam: Rachael and I have played on the same team since we were 7 (they hail from Mill Valley, Calif). The whole point of getting recruited together was to play together. It's awesome to have that dream fulfilled and really start moving into playing together. I'm so excited. I've really been looking forward to it for a long time. The past couple of seasons, it's been heartbreaking.

Can we tell you apart? Well, yeah, they're fraternal (born May 24, 1990)....

Sam: She has straight brown hair and brown eyes and I'm a bit taller. (Sam, a blond, stands 6-foot. Rachael is 5-10).

When they argue ..... which is hardly ever by the way ....

Sam: I'm no good. I would lose everything. We've got an uncle and a grandpa, and they're lawyers. Rachael's got the passion to give a really good closing. I'm no good to argue with.

Sam on Rachael's favorite color: She's pink and I'm blue.

Sam on Rachael's favorite collectible: Purses. Last year in the room we shared, we decorated the walls with purses.We went to the outlets and found a great deal on a Coach. I don't know how many (purses) she has. Technically I have three, but only ever use two.

Sam on growing up Bilney: We're the only two kids in our family. We played a lot of dress up. We played with Beanie Babies, general store, pet store games. Our parents were really good about having us go outside and use our imagination.

Sam on Rachael's perfect day: She'd probably relax, take a breath. She likes outdoors and sunshine. We're both beach people.

Sam on the future: "We're not the freaky twins who have to be together all the time. Once we graduate we'll pursue opportunities we each want. We joke one day we'll be neighbors. I'm a marketing major. I'd love to work in an ad agency as an account executive.

Rachael on Sam: Sam's the cool, patient one. I'm the emotional hothead. Sam is definitely the responsible one. When I know I mess up, she gives me one of those looks and I usually don't handle it so well.

Rachael on Sam's sense of humor: She laughs at everything you say.

Rachael on Sam's favorite food (Sam couldn't tell us Rachael's): I wouldn't be able to tell you my favorite food, either. She loves ho tdogs; I know that.

Rachael on Sam's perfect day: That would have to be at our grandparents' lake house up in Michigan.

That's Rachael

Rachael on Sam the player: We're both long and lanky and we've played together so long and been coached by the same people so long, our basketball IQ and our fundamentals are similar. Sam is much more the type of player who is the glue to the team. You're not necessarily going to see her score 16 points. But you go watch the tape and look at the stats and see she's all over. .... Who knows how I play? I haven't played in a while. I'm more of a shooter. That's usually the first thing that comes out of people's mouths.

That's Sam

Rachael on playing together .... after so long: Sam and I haven't talked about it. We're not talking about it, not jinxing it. We're just want to have fun. The whole point of coming here was to get a great education and to play basketball together. In three yeas we've played very few games together. Sam has torn her ACL four times. She shouldn't be walking. She's had five major surgeries since our sophomore year of high school.

Rachael on her own ACL tear last fall: I learned watching Sam deal with it. She's just relentless. She's persistent, determined.

Rachael on her future: I'm a double major journalism and communication. I 've had two internships with TV stations and worked at the speech center at our school. I'm interested in public relations. Grad school is something probably in the books for both of us.

Rachael on other cool twins: Ashley and Courtney Paris. They're the nicest best girls. They made it playing together their whole lives and they're been best friends the whole way. I can't remember if it was Courtney or Ashley who used to joke around with us about having our own network on TV called "Twin Vision."

We'd tune in. Thanks, Bilneys. Can't wait to see both of you on the court for the Spiders, who open 11/11/11 at Navy.