Dorian “Doe-Doe” Finney-Smith made sure he set the record straight from the outset.
“We have a joint interview, so if you ask me a question, he’s gonna answer.”
The guy that was supposed to be answering all the questions was Jake Kurtz.
This Jake is the 6’5” Senior Forward on Billy Donovan’s 2014-2015 squad and he can often be found in the same spot that he was at the end of the Gator basketball team’s media day; right by Finney-Smith’s side.
As Gator basketball’s 2014 media day was winding down, Finney-Smith was the last of the players left to be interviewed. Media members began to descend upon him and Kurtz turned to walk away, apparently no longer needed but Doe-Doe quickly pulled him back and opened his interviews with that first comment. The point was made.
If you want one, you get both.
It is in the two, we find what has a strong case to be considered one of the most unlikely of friendships.
Coming out of high school, Doe-Doe was ranked as 18th overall on the ESPN Top 100 recruits. He signed with Virginia Tech and then transferred to Florida after his freshman year.
Jake came to Florida for academics. As a freshman he would watch practice from the track in the facility. He was offered a manager position with a team, and then a year later, earned a walk on spot on the roster.
He’s now an engineering major who often does his homework in the room on road games.
His roommate, Doe-Doe, doesn’t even like to glance at it.
“Oh my god, it gave me a headache. I look at it and I get a headache,” he said.
Going into the 2014 season, Doe-Doe has amassed 532 points through 1,912 minutes.
Jake’s numbers read 56 points after 268 minutes.
Doe-Doe hails from Portsmouth, Virginia, which houses the Norfolk Ship Yard and has a population of close to 100,000 people
Jake made the short trip to Gainesville from Oviedo, Florida, a suburb of Orlando with a population of just over 30,000 (not including the chickens).
Yet they’ve found a groove that works for them and created they’re own “Little Debbie”.
“They call us the zebra cake. Y’all see it?” Doe-Doe jokes, while throwing an arm around Jake. “He looks like me. Yes this my brother.”
Granted, this is more a sentimental statement than anything — unless of course this is a real life basketball version of the 1980 movie “Twins”.
Actually, that’s feasible. Two guys who seemingly couldn’t be more different. Separated at birth but then reunited years later and remain adamant about their relation despite evidence to the contrary.
In case it does get confusing trying to figure out who’s who though, Doe-Doe has a way to help you remember.
“He’s the strongest”, he points to Jake, “and I’m the best looking.”
“He had to say himself that he was the best looking,” Jake quips back.
This is just one example of the quick rapport the two established mimicking sibling rivalry. It’s most noticeable in the most logical of places, the basketball court.
Lots of late night workouts roll into one-on-one games, which become a point of contention when asking who wins.
“I do”, Jake declares, his voice rising to the highest level we’ve heard yet.
“[Doe-Doe] will say he does but he’s gonna lie to you. I’ve been winning. I don’t know by how much but ask him and he’ll lie to you and say he wins every game.”
Sure enough, when the same question is presented to Doe-Doe, he initially tries to fend it off to, who else but Jake.
“One-on-one? I’m gonna let him answer that question”.
Can’t, we tell him. He’s already answered and now Jake follows with a warning.
“I wanna hear your answer cause I told the truth”.
Doe-Doe cocks his head, contemplates his response for a moment and with a smile, decides to go for the glory.
“The score is probably like 99-3 my way…it’s a tough matchup.”
And with that, Jake claps his friend on the shoulder, wishes him well with his interviews and jogs off to the locker room. Doe-Doe will join him there soon and it’s in that room that their teammates get to attend the vaudevillian-esque (yes, that’s a word) act of Doe-Doe & Kurtz.
“They’re very funny around each other”, notes point guard Kasey Hill. “Always joking with each other, acting like they don’t like each other, but they really do.”
The ribbing laced with mutual respect has been a factor since day one, and what initially gave birth to the friendship.
“When he first came on his recruiting visit, when he was coming from Tech that’s when I first met him”, Jake remembers with a laugh.
“We somehow, I don’t know why, but we just clicked there…we just started joking around. I heard him say a joke then I said a joke back to him and we just kinda hit off there and we got to talking and we just became really good friends and now we’re very very close”
Doe-Doe has the same memories, for the most part, although in his version he had to use the joking as a segue to find out more about his new friend.
“We both joke a lot. He quite. And I joke a lot so I wanted to pick on the quietest person on the team and it’s him and he just kinda opened up.”
Their friendship continued to grow, more out of opportunity than anything, and with that opportunity, Doe-Doe had a rapt audience in Jake as he continued to help him open up.
During the 2012-2013 season, Doe-Doe was still a new transfer from Virginia Tech and therefore required to sit out a year due to NCAA violations. And Jake, well at the time he was still just the manager who happened to show just enough panache in practice to earn a walk on spot, which in his first year really equated to a bench spot.
As Jake recalls, it was during all of those 40-minute game increments that the two really found a connection. Lots of time side by side on the bench with no one else to talk to, he remembers.
Now, according to Doe-Doe, the talking won’t stop.
“He won’t be quite. He just talks. He won’t shut up.”
There is one thing Jake will be quite about though. He’s spent enough time with Doe-Doe by now to have plenty of dirt, but he’s not spilling.
“I’m not gonna embarrass him like that. I’d love to do it but I won’t.”
Before games, after games, during games when they find themselves both on the bench, both on the court and off, it’s not uncommon to see Jake Kurtz and Dorian Finney-Smith side by side.
And yes, at first glance, with limited information on the two, it does seem like the most unlikely of friendships. It doesn’t take long though to see it’s one that has been forged out of kinship that can only come naturally; and grown into a bond that even the most intense ribbing can’t dissuade.
If you still need to know more about it, just ask Doe-Doe. Jake will be happy to answer.
Good article, but you do know that the word is quiet.