Radford coach has seen this before

Radford basketball coach Brad Greenberg remembers the day his younger brother, Seth, engineered one of the biggest upsets in Allen Fieldhouse history.

“I was player-personnel director of the (Portland) Trail Blazers. I remember going in the media room at halftime. Our public-relations director said, ‘Did you see that score?’ I said it had to be a mistake on the screen. He said, ‘It’s a final.’ I couldn’t believe it myself,” Brad said of Long Beach State’s remarkable 64-49 victory over KU on Jan. 25, 1993.

That Long Beach win — make it that Long Beach blowout — was completely unexpected.

Roy Williams’ Jayhawks entered the game 16-1 and ranked No. 1 in the land. Seth Greenberg’s Long Beach State squad was 13-3 and unranked.

KU advanced to the Final Four that year. LBSU fell in the first round of the NCAAs.

“Later I watched the game. It was the most incredible thing,” Brad said. His Radford Highlanders enter today’s 7 p.m. game 4-2 and unranked in another Greenberg-brother meeting versus the No. 1 team in America.

“They (49ers) did play well. But Kansas that game missed a ton of shots that hung on the rim. It was as if some sort of leprechaun was knocking it off. They (49ers) ended up having a good team. Little did anybody know at the time they had (long-time) NBA players in Lucious Harris and Bryon Russell on that team.”

That Long Beach State victory is a source of pride in the Greenberg family. Seth is currently head coach at Virginia Tech.

“I think in his den downstairs in Blacksburg (Va.) he has a Long Beach newspaper or the L.A. Times, some headline with some sort of reference to the Wizard of Oz or something,” Brad said. “Obviously, any time you beat a No. 1 team, it’s special. I don’t have to tell you about the magic of Phog Allen Fieldhouse. It’s one of the special places.”

Radford’s hopes of a similar upset tonight might rest on the shoulders of Artsiom Parakhouski, a 6-foot-11, 270-pound senior center from Minsk, Belarus. He’s averaged 22.3 points and 14.8 rebounds per game for a team that has lost to Duke (104-67) and Duquesne (71-63) and beaten Navy, Lynchburg, Winthrop and Presbyterian.

“We call him ‘Artsy,’ as if he’s a little kid,” Brad Greenberg said with a laugh. “No, we call him Art. Most people call him Art.

“I think he is on the radar for sure with NBA people. He is a guy most teams know they have to see, maybe numerous times. He will be in the draft somewhere.”

It’s KU big man Cole Aldrich vs. Parakhouski tonight in a super sub-plot for the game.

“It’s two guys who will look each other eye-to-eye for the most part,” Greenberg said. “Both have strength and bulk. My suspicion is Cole is a little bigger than the 245 (pounds) you see on the screen. Art is every bit of 270.”

KU coach Bill Self believes Parakhouski is the real deal.

“He’s a big guy who moves very well. We haven’t played anybody like that yet without question,” Self said.