Virginia No. 1 again, 35 years after upset that shocked world

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DENNIS ODA /1982

Chaminade players celebrated their historic victory over Virginia on Dec. 23, 1982.

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You can make the case that it took the University of Virginia basketball team a little more than 35 years to fully recover from the biggest upset in college basketball history.

That’s because the Cavaliers ascended to the No. 1 spot in the Associated Press Top 25 poll Monday for the first time since they were taken down by tiny Chaminade, 77-72, Dec. 23, 1982.

“That’s amazing,” said Richard Haenisch, who played on the storied Silverswords squad. “Thirty-five years? It doesn’t seem that long ago.”

Virginia and 7-foot, 4-inch Naismith Award player of the year Ralph Sampson finished the 1981-82 season at No. 3 in the major polls with a 30-4 record. With Sampson back for what would become a third Naismith trophy in his senior year, the Cavaliers opened the 1982-83 season as a consensus No. 1.

They then held it for five weeks in an 8-0 start that included victories over No. 3 Georgetown and Patrick Ewing and No. 14 Houston and Hakeem Olajuwon.

Then, they strode into the Blaisdell Center as prohibitive favorites against the NAIA Silverswords.

But after Chaminade’s triumph, the Cavaliers tumbled to No. 4 and never rose higher than No. 2 in a 29-5 campaign that saw them finish at No. 4.

Ten times over the intervening decades the Cavaliers climbed as high as No. 2, but not until Monday, with a 23-2 record after a weekend of upsets, did Virginia return to the No. 1 spot.

“Its funny, we were just talking about the Virginia game,” said Merv Lopes, who was the Silverswords’ head coach for the history-making victory. “There are some people talking about making a movie, maybe a book about it.”

Lopes, who is 85 and resides on Hawaii Island, said he is often reminded of the game. “Last week the clerk at a gas station in Waimea asked me if I was still in coaching,” said Lopes, who spends a lot of his time fishing and playing golf.

Chaminade had played Virginia on two earlier visits to Hawaii, losing 79-54 in the 1979-80 season and 75-59 in 1981-82.

At first, the game that would put Chaminade on the map seemed like a joke, Lopes recalls. “That was Mike (Vasconcellos’ deal),” Lopes said. “I asked him, ‘Are you sure about this? The No. 1 team?’”