Ask most people what Chaminade means and they’d probably tell you it’s an old Hawaiian word for the hero in Jack and the Beanstalk.
“Giant-killer,” Kansas guard Kevin Pritchard said. “That’s what I think of. That’s all we’ve heard for the last week or so.”
Indeed, Chaminade, an NAIA school with an enrollment of just 900, has in the past knocked off eventual NCAA champion Louisville and Ralph Sampson-led Virginia.
Now the Silverswords will take their best shot at Kansas, a preseason Top Ten team.
Tipoff is 4 p.m., Lawrence time, at the Lahaina Civic Center. The opening game of the eight-team Maui Classic will be televised live on ESPN.
Kansas coach Larry Brown also knows of Chaminade’s reputation as a slayer of the supoosedly superior, so he’s on guard.
“I hope our kids read the paper like I do and respecte that,” Brown said. “Being an NAIA school they could have a whole new cast of characters because Proposition 48 doesn’t affect them. Heck, Jo Jo might even show up.”
The ageless Jo Jo White is, as a matter of fact, still with the Topeka Sizzlers, and isn’t playi9ng for Chaminade, although the Silverswords probably wish he was.
Chaminade opened at home on Monday night and lost. Whitworth – it’s an NAIA school in Spokane, Wash. – won, 65-62.
Perhaps the ‘Swords were simply setting the Jayhawks up. Nevertheless, coach Merv Lopes has no starter taller than 6-6, meaning he should have a dickens of a time stopping 6-10 KU All-American Danny Manning.
Still, Manning can’t do it all and, as Brown says, “Whether we play Chaminade or anybody, we have to play better than we’ve practiced. I’ve been unhappy with the way we’ve practiced.”
Brown may be a little extra apprehensive because of the way the Jayhawks performed last year in the Aloha Classic on the neighboring island of Oahu. They lost close games to both Pittsburgh and Ohio State, then barely beat undermanned Hawaii, a team that went on to a 7-21 record.
“We just weren’t a very good team at the time,” Brown recalled, “and we got in foul trouble.”
Something the Jayhawks learned from their first Hawaiian experience was that the officiating, especially wehn you’re playing an island school, can be, uh, suspicious.
In other words, the Jayhawks are expecting the worst when they play the tourney host school on Friday afternoon.
“I don’t think we’re afraid of Chaminade as a ‘giant-killer,'” guard Scooter Barry said, “but there is a well-known fact that the officials are a lot different. My high school coach went to Hawaii-Hilo and he said they had a lot of homers on the island.”
Or as Pritchard remarked: “I think we’re a lot more prepared this time. A lot of us know what to expect…it’ll probably be seven-on-five or eight-on-five, depending on how many refs they use.”
Kansas, of course, also has to overcome the four-hour time difference, and the distractions of the beach, the easy-going lifestyle, etc.
“If I was selfish, I’d lock ’em up and just play the game,” Brown said about his players, “but they deserve to be rewarded. In all honesty, that didn’t affect teh way we played (last year) at all.”
If Kansas wins, as expected, it will meet the winner of the Iowa-Stanford game in teh semifinals at 3 p.m., Lawrence time, on Saturday. That game is scheduled to be televised live on channels 13 and 41 in the Lawrence area.
A win in the semis would send the Jayhawks into the title game at midnight Sunday (ESPN). Teams in the lower bracket are Illinois, Baylor, Villanova and Nebraska.
Notes
Junior Milt Newton can’t play for Kansas on Friday because of that NCAA suspension, but he’ll be available for the rest of the tourney…Senior Chris Piper, recovering from a bad knee, also won’t play Friday, but is probably for Saturday or Sunday…KU’s home opener is next Tuesday night against Pomona-Pitzer…In theory, Kansas could meet Big Eight kin Nebraska for the championship…