On Monday, the Marquette men's basketball team will open the Maui Invitational against Chaminade, the host school that Al McGuire would have called a "cupcake." Later this season, the Division II team will play the same opponent back-to-back nights to alleviate travel expenses.
Though it sounds like the Silverswords couldn't cut butter, I give fair warning to Tom Crean and the boys.
Twenty-five years ago, No. 1 Virginia thought the same thing. In what is unquestionably the greatest upset in college basketball history, Chaminade, then a member of the NAIA, defeated a powerhouse that featured 7-foot-4, three-time national player of the year Ralph Sampson and future NBA player and coach Rick Carlisle.
"We had a group of really special guys," said Merv Lopes, the former Silverswords coach who was at the helm for the historic 77-72 victory. "We went out there and weren't intimidated at all."
Before the 1982 upset, Chaminade had fallen to the Cavalierstwice in the three previous years by over a combined 40 points.
Apparently, the third time was the charm.
Virginia entered Blaisdell Arena on Dec. 23, 1982 having already beaten a Patrick Ewing-led Georgetown team and a Houston squad that included Hakeem Olajuwon and Clyde Drexler.
A week before the Virginia game, Chaminade beat Hawaii – a victory Lopes called "monumental." A few days later, his team lost to Wayland Baptist. Lopes actually said staying within 20 points of Virginia would be a moral victory.
The couple thousand in attendance showed up to see the nation's top team and witnessed a very improbable victory. After all, Chaminade's basketball program was only seven years old. It shared a campus with a larger neighboring high school. How did they pull off the impossible?
"I asked our players if they could run with or jump higher than individual players on Virginia's team," said Lopes, who now spends his time golfing and fishing when not holding basketball camps. "We were OK with everyone except Big Ralph."
Somehow, the Silverswords made the task of containing the giant center look somewhat manageable. They hounded Sampson when he had the ball and drew him away from the basket on defense. The Cavs' dreams of beach, sun and relaxation vanished as halftime arrived in a 43-43 deadlock.
Chaminade hung around and led by two with 90 seconds to play. In a time before the shot clock and three-point line, the Silverswords drained free throws down the stretch, and the impossible became a reality. Chaminade held Sampson in check, limiting him to 12 points.
With a five-hour time difference, the East Coast heard the news and stood in disbelief. Many newspapers reportedly checked sources several times to make sure the score was correct.
Back to 2007. Despite a couple of unimpressive wins to open the season, Marquette should run Chaminade right off the Hawaiian Islands. But the good-humored Lopes shared some words of wisdom that Marquette might consider taking to heart.
"There are two things in life – reasons and results," he said. "And reasons don't matter."
Just like anyone with a bit of sense, I could list a number of reasons why Marquette should merely brush Chaminade by the wayside to get to their first true test in the second round.
When calling the Chaminade athletic department, I had current head coach Matt Mahar on the line within 30 seconds, an example of the no-frills charm of D-II basketball.
"We'll have to shoot it pretty well and hope Marquette doesn't," Mahar said, grasping to any glimmer of hope for a win against the No. 10 team in the nation.
Sounds like a game plan employed 25 years ago to perfection.