Jordan & Jaime: Nation's lone NCAA bro-sis combo

IOWA CITY -- March Madness, meet Sibling Revelry.

If possessing the lone brother-sister combination in the NCAA tournaments is the barometer, then the Printys of Marion are college basketball's first family.

"It's amazing. It's fun. It's a testament to both kids and their parents," said Lisa Bluder, coach of the University of Iowa women, who face Gonzaga at 3 p.m. (Iowa time) Saturday at Spokane, Wash.

Jaime Printy is the leading scorer for the 25th-ranked Hawkeyes (22-8).

Her older brother, Jordan Printy, is a key reserve for the Indiana State men, who meet Syracuse at 8:57 Friday night in Cleveland.

While Jaime and Jordan are preparing for the games, their parents are making travel plans.

Jeff Printy, the father, is making the 10-hour drive to Cleveland. Kelly Printy, Jeff's wife and the mother of Jordan and Jaime, was scrambling earlier this week to book a flight to -- and a hotel room in -- Spokane.

As of Wednesday afternoon, Kelly said, it probably won't happen.

"I'll probably be going to Cleveland with Jeff," she said.

It's nothing new. Jeff and Kelly, high school sweethearts and former college athletes, have spent much of their middle-age years in gyms throughout Iowa and the Midwest.

"People think we're nuts," Kelly said. "But we won't be able to do this forever."

Jeff said, "We're very proud of them, obviously, for their basketball talents. But we're more proud in the fact that they're both just really good kids. They've never given us any trouble."

The Printy siblings are excellent students and model citizens, with uncommon long-range shooting touches.

Jordan, a 6-foot-4 junior backup guard, leads the Missouri Valley Confrerence tournament champion Sycamores (20-13) in 3-pointers, hitting 50 of 104 for 48.1 percent. He averages 6.1 points per game. Jaime (5-11, sophomore) leads the Hawkeyes at 16.5 points per game and has made 65 treys in 172 attempts (37.8 percent).

Jaime has emulated her big brother all her life.

"Jordan is my role model," she said. "He's my best friend. He has good morals. He treats everyone the right way.

"I've tried so hard to be like him. He's such a good kid."

The siblings contact each other, each day, via cell phone, Twitter or Facebook.

And though Jaime was bitterly disappointed when the Hawkeyes bowed out in the quarterfinals of the Big Ten tournament, it did present an opportunity. She accompanied her parents and 13-year-old sister Jenna to St. Louis, where Jordan and the Sycamores won the MVC tournament and grabbed an automatic bid for the NCAA.

"It wasn't cool that we lost," Jaime said. "But it was a neat opportunity to see him play. He's worked so hard. He played so good. I got to hang out with my family and it was awesome to be a part of it."

Jordan said, "Every game she's been at this year, we've won."

Jeff Printy graduated from Cedar Rapids Washington in 1980. He played basketball at Washington, then two years at Kirkwood Community College.

A 1980 graduate of Cedar Rapids Kennedy, Kelly was a sprinter and long jumper at Iowa.

The couple didn't push their kids into basketball. Some things just happen.

"They were both crazy about basketball since the time they could walk," said Jeff, an engineering project specialist at Rockwell Collins. Kelly is a nurse at St. Luke's Hospital.

Jordan and Jaime typed up workouts on the computer, then printed them out.

"Shooting, defense, ball-handling," Jaime said. "Dad would laugh at us. But we'd go out and do them and after each drill, we'd check them off."

"Dad never pushed us hard, but he told us what we needed to do to get where we wanted to go."

It was obvious quickly that Jaime "was going to be a special player," Jordan said. His own development came later.

"You could tell early that Jaime was going to be really good," Jeff said. "Jordan shot well and had a good feel for the game. We didn't know he was going to be 6-4 or 6-5.

"Jaime, she was just a little phenom."

Jaime committed to play for Bluder and the Hawkeyes when she was a freshman at Linn-Mar. She helped lead the Lions to three state tournaments.

But it was Jordan that brought home a state championship, in 2008.

"I can't say enough about the experience of playing at Linn-Mar," Jordan said. "The teams that came before me and established that tradition. It's a great school, great program, great people."

The final Printy child appears to be taking a different path. A seventh-grader, Jenna is into dance, not basketball.

"Jenna really supports both of (her siblings)," Jeff said. "But she's certainly independent. She's proud of doing her own thing."

Iowa is the higher seed against Gonzaga, but the Bulldogs are on their home floor and average 86.1 points per game, the most of anyone in the women's NCAA field.

It appears to be a toss-up.

The Sycamores, meanwhile, are underdogs. But Jordan's fine with that.

"Playing Syracuse, it's going to be a tough game for us. A great team from a really good conference," he said. "They have a tough matchup zone."

But the Printy kids love zones.

"Yeah, we do," Jordan said. "I won't mind facing it."

BROTHER/SISTER COMBINATIONS IN NCAA DIVISION-I BASKETBALL

Justin Graham (San Jose State) and Jessica Graham (Idaho)

Marvelle Harris (Campbell) and Chandra Harris (Georgia State)

Jordan Printy (Indiana State) and Jaime Printy (Iowa)

Mike Venezia (Colgate) and Diana Venezia (UNC-Wilmington)