LAHAINA, Hawaii — North Carolina's first-round opponent, Chaminade, may be only 5-65 all-time in the Maui Invitational, but it can pull an upset. Its 1982 stunner over Ralph-Sampson-led Virginia is still considered one of the greatest college basketball shockers of all time, and eventually helped lead to the formation of the tournament.
It's last win in the tournament occurred last season, when it beat Princeton 74-70 in the seventh place game.
Other things worth noting:
* Nickname: Silverswords.
* Although Chaminade is the host school for the tournament, it is actually located in Honolulu. Tonight marks its season opener.
* The Division II school lost all five of its starters from last year, but it boasts three Division I transfers. Center Mohamad Tangara, a graduate student, formerly played at Arizona. He also went to prep school at Mt. Zion in Durham. Forward Shane Hanson, a junior, played for UC Davis for two seasons. And guard Joe Smith, also a graduate student, previously played at Washington.
* UNC has never faced the Silverswords.
* Said head coach Matt Mahar: "Obviously we're excited to be the host of this tournament; it's fantastic for our University and our program. We're just hoping to get better; we have a whole new group, and we're just trying to figure out who's going to do what. We have three D-I transfers; I love my kids, they're good kids. Off the court, they're fantastic; on the court, we've got a lot to work on. So we're hoping to do that this week."
Robbi Pickeral has covered ACC sports for The News & Observer since 2003. She can be reached at 
Comments
just get DTv and all will be
Mon, 11/24/2008 - 22:46 — gvillegatrjust get DTv and all will be well. you fools, err, hard heads keep thinking digital cable is better when it is clearly not. it also continues to rise in price about every 6 months. not to mention I get over 100 HD channels which trumps everything IMO.
you can get the sports pack on DTv and it gives you everything you guys are talking about and more. the only thing that TW is better at is you get all the ncaa basketball tournament games at no charge. but I was able to find multipe sites on the intrnet that allowed me to watch those games for free.
TWC just added ESPNU HD to my service
Mon, 11/24/2008 - 18:04 — UNC1998doesn't come on basic digital, though? I want NFL network, but we're all gonna get MLB network instead.
Hey guppydude
Mon, 11/24/2008 - 17:09 — melvinfurdI don't think Robbi said anything to indicate the Silverswords would beat UNC but she's 100% correct that they beat UVA (and I think UVA was ranked #1 in the country at the time) in one of the biggest upsets in the history of college basketball in 1982. To this day UVA fans cringe noticeably anytime Chaminade or the Silverswords are mentioned, even in a whisper. I think mentioning Chaminade's all-time record of 5-65 in the Maui Classic should give you an idea of how big an upset it was for them to beat the Wahoos. Also, I don't know where you are, but in Wilmington we have ESPN U - it's "included" in the "Sports Tier" and is well worth whaever it costs IMO.
oh please
Mon, 11/24/2008 - 15:28 — guppyman45i will give you chaminade and 20. get real man.
the real issue here is how do we get time warner to add espnu to the cable without charging more. lord knows they got room. just take off one of the money grabbing preachers or one of the idiotic shopping networks.