It was back on March 7, 2020 in the Great 8 Round of the 2020 CHSAA 5A Boys Basketball State Playoffs where Christopher and Christian Speller wore the same jersey in a basketball game for the last time.
 
That would also be the last game of the 2020 high school boy's basketball season, where the Speller twins and Rangeview High School defeated Columbine to advance to the Final Four in an attempt to win back-to-back state titles. Little did they know, like every other competitive athlete at the time, that would be the last game for a while due to the COVID-19 pandemic.
 
"It was real disappointing to end on that note," Christian Speller said. "We definitely all wanted to play. We knew 100 percent that we were gonna go back-to-back [championships] and once when we got the news, it was a tough blow."
 
Shortly afterwards the Speller brothers split up to attend two different colleges. Christian went to MSU Denver to play for the Roadrunners while Christopher headed west to compete for Colorado Mesa. Fast forward to December 5, 2020 and the two were competing against each other for the very first time. It was the first occurrence outside the practice gym or the driveway the two were playing in different jerseys, and the rest of the Speller family had to watch online but were thrilled to see the two come together again.
 
"We had shirts that we cut in half, a MSU Denver shirt and Mesa shirt put together and we were just encouraging them," Christopher and Christian's father Kyle Speller said. "I was just so glad that the opportunity came for them to come back together again."
 
Kyle Speller, who is also the PA announcer and team chaplain for the Denver Nuggets, was his sons' club coach for the Colorado Miners growing up.
 
"One thing that I share about them or share with them in reminder, they're young champions," Kyle said. "Every single year they have started playing, all they have ever done is win championships...that's who they are and that's their pedigree."
 
Christopher and the Mavericks would win the game 83-68 and then later win the rematch in January. He also went on to win the RMAC Freshman of the Year and help lead the Mavericks to back-to-back RMAC Tournament titles and a regular season championship.
 
During the offseason, Christian made the decision to transfer and rejoin his brother once again at CMU. A decision that came rather easy after seeing the chemistry the Mavericks had en route to being the top team in the nation heading into the NCAA Tournament.
 
"We brought him up here on this visit and he saw the way we acted and the way we got down, and he wanted to come up here right away," Christopher Speller said of his brother.
 
It was almost immediately right afterward that it was clear where both brothers wanted to be.
 
"I saw what [Christopher] had going on here and I see that he's in a really good basketball atmosphere and just positive overall to be around. Seeing how their team played and I thought it was the same way I grew up playing," Christian said. "They just played a certain type of pace I'm used to so with me being able to go there, I'll be able to fit in really well."
 
Christian can't play this season due to him transferring and having to redshirt. However, being back on the same court with his brother and wearing the same jersey, at least in practice, is something worth celebrating, especially for the family.
 
"That's a big time answer to prayer and a dream come true," Kyle Speller said. "That was something they both wanted, and for them to be back together again, man I can't wait for next year."
 
Now with both Speller brothers together, along with all the added depth to the CMU roster, the Mavericks are poised for another postseason run and have every tool necessary to be competitive for years to come, and both Chrisopher and Christian will be at the core of it.
 
"With this team, everybody's young," Christopher said. "We already have that chemistry to play together and we all play together really well and with Coach DeGeorge, he understands where we play too and everybody's comfortable playing on the floor...we could be really dangerous."
 
Their teammate, redshirt-freshman Trevor Baskin, played with the Speller brothers dating back to sixth grade on the Colorado Miners club team coached by their dad Kyle. Chemistry will be what drives the Mavericks forward and having a set of twin brothers on the same roster only helps the cause.