Pat Chambers and the Boston University Terriers did what Steve Donahue and Boston College could not this season, and that's make the NCAA Tournament. Yet that hasn't stopped Chambers from seeking advice from Donahue about BU's upcoming match-up with No. 1 seed Kansas in the second round of the Big Dance.
"I called my man,'' said Chambers, referring to Boston College first-year coach Steve Donahue.
Chambers and Donahue, the head coaches at Boston University and Boston College, respectively, are both from the Philadelphia area and have been friends for a long time. During his time at Cornell, Donahue took the Big Red into Memorial Stadium in Lawrence, Kansas on Jan. 6, 2010 and barely lost to the Jayhawks, 71-66.
While the game won't be in Kansas, Chambers was anxious to know what Donahue did to keep the Jayhawks
"They went in there and they played great,'' Chambers said. "They had it down to a one-possession game with less than a minute to go. It was terrific.''
Entering Friday's second round match-up between No. 16 seed Boston University (21-13) and Kansas (32-2), the Terriers are naturally huge underdogs (pun intended). Since the NCAA Tournament expanded in 1985, a No. 16 seed has never upset a No. 1 seed in the opening round, at least on the men's side (Harvard knocked off No. 1 Stanford in 1998).
Yet if Chambers and his Terriers want to continue their season past Friday, they'll need to do just that. For that reason alone, Chambers is seeking all the help he can get, especially from Donahue.
"I said, ‘I know it was a year ago, but what was your mind-set going into the game? What were you telling your kids? How did you go about it?' and he was great, he was great,'' Chambers said.
"He just said you've got to go in there really confident, just take it four minutes at a time, and just do the best you can moving them side to side, and don't get caught up in all the 1 and 16 stuff. He was terrific.''
The Terriers and Jayhawks will tip-off on Friday evening at 6:50 p.m. EDT (TBS). Marv Albert and Steve Kerr will serve as the play-by-play and color commentators, respectively.
Need a printable NCAA bracket to fill out for the tournament? Download SB Nation's March Madness Bracket.