By Dave Johnson
W&M Athletics
 
On a balmy evening last spring, Gabe Dorsey stood outside a Williamsburg restaurant with teammate Matteus Case waiting to host a recruit on his official visit. That's pretty much all they knew.
 
"We were like, 'OK, what position does he play?'" Dorsey said. "'Oh, he's a point guard.' 'Well, how tall is he?' 'He's 6-2.' They didn't give us a name or anything. We were like, man, is this kid even a priority?'"
 
Eventually, a car pulled up. The first to exit was a long, lanky kid with a huge smile on his face.
 
"I was like," Gabe said, 'No way!'"
 
It was not an anonymous 6-2 point guard. It was a 6-8 forward named Caleb Dorsey, Gabe's older brother, who after three seasons at Penn State had entered the transfer portal. And who William & Mary's coaching staff considered a top priority.
 
Credit that staff with keeping a secret. And credit the brothers' parents, Stephen (pronounced with a short e, like Stephen Curry) and Myra, with cooking up the scheme.
 
"We wanted to keep it a surprise knowing how close they are and how special it would be if Caleb committed," said Myra, who with Stephen was next out of the car that night. "It was very special. Gabriel was very excited to see Caleb at that moment as a recruit."
 
Caleb committed on the final day of his visit, and the Dorsey brothers are teammates again — nearly four years after playing their last game together in high school. Stephen and Myra are happily making the four-hour drives from Westminster, Md., to Kaplan Arena.

"It's a dream come true," said Caleb, who like his brother has eligibility through the 2024-25 season. "I thought about us playing together in college, but I never really thought it would come to fruition because I ended up at Penn State and I thought I was going to be happy there.
 
"But everything has come full circle. It's been amazing."
 
Caleb and Gabe are the first pair of brothers to play on the same Tribe basketball team since Terry and Bobby Fitzgibbons in 1996-97. This isn't new territory for W&M coach Dane Fischer. As an assistant at Rider in 2007-08, he coached two sets of brothers — Jason and Ryan Thompson and Pat and Harris Mansell.
 
Heading into Thursday night's CAA opener against Elon at Kaplan, Gabe is the Tribe's leading scorer at 14.8 points a game. He is second in the CAA and seventh nationally with 3.62 3-point baskets a game. He is shooting 42.7 percent from the arc, second in the conference and 31st nationally.
 
Caleb's overall numbers are 7.5 points and 6.4 rebounds a game, but that's counting a slow start. In his last five games, he's averaging 14.4 points on 47-percent shooting and 8.2 boards a night.
 
Brothers always, teammates again … and now roommates
 
From the start, Fischer could see the Dorsey brothers had a special connection, both on and off the floor.
 
"There's a natural chemistry they have from all the years of playing together and also because their games really complement each other really well," he said. "And sometimes there's a moment, usually when they're interacting with one another, where it's like, 'OK, that's a sibling conversation.'"
 
Caleb is 16 months older than Gabe, and they have a big brother named Joshua. They learned the game from Stephen, who was a 6-7 forward at VMI and Towson in the mid-to-late 1980s.
 
Caleb and Gabe played three seasons together at The Hill School in Pottstown, Pa. In 2017-18 — Caleb was a sophomore, Gabe a freshman — the Rams won the Pennsylvania Independent Schools Athletic Association state championship. Their top scorer was Chase Audige, who signed with and played a season at William & Mary.
 
After graduating in 2020, Caleb signed with Penn State. Stephen Dorsey recently learned that Fischer, then in his first season as W&M's head coach, was recruiting Caleb at the time.
 
"I don't know how I didn't know," Stephen said. "Caleb would have made whatever decision he was going to make, but I probably would have made it known that maybe William & Mary from the onset would have been the best place for him."
 
In three seasons at Penn State, Caleb played in 33 games with nine starts. In those three seasons, the Nittany Lions had three different head coaches. It wasn't the best situation, so after the 2022-23 season, he decided to enter the portal.
 
A particularly interested observer was Gabe, who had just completed his first season at William & Mary after transferring from Vanderbilt. He tried to give Caleb some space. But at the same time …
 
"I guess you could say I might have been tampering a little bit," Gabe said with a laugh.
 
Given a second chance to recruit Caleb, Fischer didn't focus on the brother angle.
 
"It was really important when we had conversations that we talk about the makeup of our roster, the needs we have, how he could fit in, and how his skillset could work with what we have," Fischer said. "It was important to me that we did that as opposed to saying he should come play with his brother."
 
Caleb was immediately sold on the program's environment.
 
"The main thing I noticed when I first visited here was the brotherhood within this team," Caleb said. "That's definitely shown as we've faced a lot of (injuries) as of late. Just seeing how everyone's come together to get through these difficult times has been fun to experience."
 
Together again, Caleb and Gabe are making the most of it. For the first time, they are roommates.
 
"When we're together, there's rarely a dull moment," Caleb said. "We get along pretty well. My parents worried we'd argue and stuff, but that hasn't happened at all."
 
'This is long overdue'
 
Caleb and Gabe learned most of what they know on the court from Stephen, their coach in the driveway through AAU. To this day, he's legendary for his texts (more like manuscripts) detailing his thoughts after their games.
 
"I knew they'd tell you about that," Stephen laughed.
 
From the start, each had his specialty. Caleb could shoot, but he was best at creating. Gabe could create, but his niche was shooting.
 
They showed that connection at The Hill School. Now, they've brought it to William & Mary.
 
"That connection has been building for a long time," Caleb said. "When I have the ball, I kind of know where he is or where he's moving to. So I know where to put the ball, and he's just there and knocks down shots."
 
"It's like an unspoken understanding," Gabe added. "This is long overdue."