Just a couple seasons back, it didn’t look like it would be like this for Peter Prowitt and Taj Finger. Who would have thought the two big men would be finding themselves less a part of the action in their junior years?

Consider the fall of 2004. The duo traveled across the country and made an immediate impact as freshmen.

Prowitt, a center, and Finger, a forward, played in the majority of games for a team just a season removed from a 26-0 start and national No. 1 ranking. The pair of freshmen gave fans a reason to think they could follow in the footsteps of the great posts to play at Stanford over the past decade.

Consider their sophomore year. Finger started all but two games, and both he and Prowitt cracked the 100-point plateau, combining for 248 points on the season.

But then came the Lopez twins. As the brothers started to shake up West Coast basketball from Pullman, Wash. to Tucson, Ariz., they didn’t spare Stanford’s depth chart.

Robin scored 14, 12 and 10 points in the first three games of his career, and experts agree his defense is better than his offense. He proved them right — shutting down fellow McDonald’s All-American Spencer Hawes of Washington — and hasn’t looked back since.

By December, Brook was ready for action. In his second collegiate game, he scored 18 points despite the injured back that kept him off the court for six months. In January, his 12 blocks against Southern California doubled the old school record as he recorded Stanford’s first triple-double in at least 20 years. It could be Stanford’s first ever as the record books only go back to the mid-1980s.

While the rest of the West Coast is in awe, Prowitt and Finger have known it all along: The Lopez twins are that good.

“The way you get more playing time is to work harder and be more productive,” Prowitt said. “And they have been.”

So while the starters were notching last-second win after last-second win over Virginia, Washington and Washington State, stunning UCLA and demolishing California, the limelight intensified.

An AP ranking. SportsCenter highlights. Players of the Week and spots in the mock brackets. Speculation on going early to the NBA. (Brook told The Argus: “It’s really not up to me. I guess it [depends on] scouts’ interest in us. We’re just going to enjoy our time here and get the most out of it.”) Yet another feature on Brook, Robin and their single mother, this time picked up by The New York Times.

Meanwhile, Finger and Prowitt found themselves on the sidelines. It wasn’t just because of the Lopez twins, though. Finger is known better for his defense than his scoring, and Prowitt got a late start to his season after breaking a bone in his knee in October. Still, the statistics aren’t what they had hoped for. They’re combining for just 5.4 points and 18.6 minutes per game this season, mostly substituting in for the twins.

“You know that you sort of don’t have as much leeway, a little bit of a shorter rope,” Prowitt said.

That pressure is there. On the road, with the game on the line and thousands of fans watching and scrutinizing, any mistake can be a ticket off the court when the Lopez twins are waiting on the bench.

“There’s definitely times where it’s really frustrating, especially after losses or where you’re going through a game and you’re going in for two seconds getting pulled,” Finger said. “You’re sitting on the bench, maybe you want to get really angry, but again there’s nothing you can do about it.”

Prowitt agreed.

“It’s always frustrating because we are competitive,” he said. “We do want to play. We’re not guys who are content just sitting on the bench. But at the same time, we’re also guys that want to win.”

Sure enough, the Lopez twins have helped lead Stanford to what could be its most successful season since Prowitt and Finger arrived. This team should match last year’s 16-win total tonight, with a month left on its season. The NCAA Tournament is within sight. Winning, Prowitt said, changes everything.

“We’re on a much better team than we were last year,” he said. “Being on a winning team is much more fun than getting our butts kicked, which sometimes happened last year. But when you’re having success as a team, what can you say?”

Come March, Brook, Robin and sophomore forward Lawrence Hill will have plenty to say, to be sure. But, inevitably, their bodies will tire after the grind of a long season and opponents will key on them defensively.

The door could then swing open for Prowitt and Finger to make their mark, something they’ve already proved they are capable of.

According to Prowitt, they’ll be ready.

“[On] the majority of Division I teams, Taj could be a starter, Taj could be a star player,” he said. “I could be a starter, I could be a good player. At the same time, it’s a better time here, and you make that adjustment. It’s one we both happily make.”