Eight years ago, Brook and Robin Lopez were no-shows at an early-season practice for the Stanford men’s basketball team. Mild irritation among their coaches and teammates grew into something that resembled obvious concern as the hours passed and they failed to materialize.

Kevin Danna, a team manager, recalled that the Lopez brothers were notoriously absent-minded about checking their phones, so reaching them could be difficult. A staff member soon called their mother, who also had not heard from them. Alarmed, she drove to the campus from her home in Fresno, Calif.

What could have possibly happened to them? How could these twin 7-footers have simply vanished from campus? Eventually, it was discovered that they had joined a few friends on an impromptu road trip — to Disneyland, some 400 miles away.

“The amazing thing is that we had the next day off,” said Drew Shiller, a former teammate. “If they had just waited one more day, nobody would have ever known.”