Brothers Maurice and Kris Joseph of T&T parentage will face off tomorrow when the mighty, number one-ranked, Syracuse University face the number 16-ranked, University of Vermont in Buffalo, New York. At stake will be more than which team will advance in the USA College Basketball Championships, widely referred to as "March Madness." The story-line will definitely be influenced by some sibling rivalry. Maurice, a senior with the Vermont Catamounts, will take on his younger brother Kris, a sophomore playing for Syracuse University.
The brothers are the sons of Eartha Rigsby and Michael Joseph, both from Chinapoo Village, Morvant, who migrated from T&T to Montreal, Canada in their 20s. Six-foot-four Maurice Vermont's captain, is the second-leading scorer on the team, with a season average of 14.1 points per match. In his second year at the school, Maurice transferred from national powerhouse Michigan State to earn more playing time at a mid-major team. Kris, who is a six-foot-seven forward, has averaged 11.3 points per game this season, and is the recipient of many accolades in his role with the Orange as they are known this season, including being named the "Sixth Man of the Year" by the Big East Conference.
In fact, ESPN's basketball analyst, Bob Knight, has predicted that Kris will rise to be one of the top players in USA college basketball in the next two years, and a likely NBA prospect. Kris lost out on winning the national "Sixth Man of the Year" award from Sporting News to teammate Scoop Jardine, only because he has averaged the third most minutes on the Syracuse team. In an interview with the Burlington Free Press, their mother, preparing for the seven hour drive from Montreal to Buffalo where the entire family will not only wear their Syracuse and Vermont affiliations on their sleeves, but their humble T&T roots, said: "It won't be that hard, I guess the best team that night will win, but Maurice and Kris are both winners in my heart; they always have been."
