It's been a good week for the Olson brothers of Cedar Rapids and their college basketball careers.

Taylor Olson has accepted an offer to join the University of Northern Iowa basketball team as an invited walk-on and his younger brother Jacob has accepted an offer to play at Kirkwood.

The Olson brothers starred at Jefferson High School, where they were all-state selections. Taylor Olson played at Kirkwood the past two years and now Jacob Olson will be following in his footsteps.

Both brothers are point guards who can handle the ball and score.

Taylor Olson, 6-foot-2, averaged 11.2 points, 4 assists and 2.8 rebounds at Kirkwood this season when the Eagles finished 21-10. He flirted with other four-year schools before accepting an offer from UNI Coach Ben Jacobson about a week ago.

"I'm excited about it," he said Sunday. "I think it's a great program. When I went up to visit I got all good vibes from it.

"It seemed like they wanted me and they wanted to use me, so that was a big thing."

Olson said he might take a red-shirt year during the 2014-15 campaign and then have two years to compete with the Panthers. "I don't mind waiting at all," he remarked.

Olson had toe surgery two weeks ago due to a bone spur and arthritis but expects to be healthy soon.

Olson will be the sixth player from the Metro area on the UNI squad this season, joining Matt Bohannon (Linn-Mar), Wes Washpun (Washington), Kasey Semler (Marion), Max Martino (Kennedy) and Matt MacDougall (Prairie).

Olson said he'll have a chance to earn a scholarship at some point in the future at Northern Iowa.

Jacob Olson, 6-foot-1, averaged 20.7 points and 3.1 rebounds for the Jefferson J-Hawks this season.

"He's a very talented guard," said Kirkwood Coach Bryan Petersen. "He's shown he's very capable of putting the ball in the basket over his last few years at Jefferson. He's a very talented kid."

Petersen said Olson picked Kirkwood over NIACC.

The Olson brothers are both point guards, but they are not similar players. Taylor Olson is stronger and more physical than Jacob, who is slender and wiry.

"They're actually quite a bit different," said Petersen. "Jacob probably has more of a scorer's mentality than Taylor did in high school."