“I called my man,’’ said Chambers, referring to Boston College first-year coach Steve Donahue.

Before coming to BC, Donahue took a talented Cornell squad into Lawrence, Kan., for a nonconference game Jan. 6, 2010, and nearly upset the top-ranked Jayhawks on their own court before falling, 71-66.

“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.’’

Chambers would love nothing more than to have that same opportunity when his Terriers (21-13), champions of America East, make their first NCAA appearance since 2002 against Big 12 champion Kansas (32-2) Friday night.

Chambers put out the call to Donahue in hopes of getting some local knowledge on the Jayhawks.

“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.’’

While the rest of the world may view this as a monumental mismatch, that opinion was not necessarily shared in Case Gym yesterday as BU went through its final workouts.

If the Terriers, who have won 11 in a row, are to advance, they’ll have to become the first 16 seed to topple a No. 1 on the men’s side.

“Honestly, we could shock the world or whatever you want to call it, but we believe in ourselves,’’ said senior forward John Holland, who guided BU to a gritty 56-54 victory over Stony Brook in the America East title game last Saturday, scoring 23 of his game-high 27 points in the second half, including 16 in a row.

“I believe in us, and if we’re going to do anything, like beat KU, it wouldn’t be a shock to us,’’ said Holland, who is averaging a team-high 19.2 points per game. “That’s the first step, to believe in ourselves. We have to believe in ourselves, because if you don’t, then there’s no point in even showing up.’’

The Jayhawks are 34-6 in the first round of the NCAA Tournament. Among those six losses: a 77-71 setback to Notre Dame in 1975, and back-to-back one-and-dones in 2005 vs. 14th-seeded Bucknell (64-63) and in 2006 vs. 13th-seeded Bradley (77-73).

BU guard Matt Griffin, a junior transfer from Rider, vividly recalls Bucknell’s upset since his older brother, John, was on that squad.

Griffin said his brother, now a coaching intern with the Indiana Pacers, called with advice on how to handle the Jayhawks.

“He just told me to go in there and really believe, and be aggressive and play the way the Boston University knows how to play,’’ Griffin said. “We just have to go in there and believe, because that’s what they did.’’

Donahue, though, knows Kansas has the potential to stretch that belief. The Jayhawks have incredible depth and a frontcourt led by true twin towers: Markieff and Marcus Morris.

Markieff, a 6-foot-10-inch, 240-pound junior, is averaging 13.6 points, leads the Big 12 in rebounding (8.2 per game), and has a team-high 40 blocks.

Marcus may be slightly smaller than his twin brother at 6-9, 235, but he has never been one to be overshadowed. A Wooden Award finalist and Naismith Trophy candidate, Marcus averages a team-leading 17.2 points and is averaging 7.2 rebounds. He was the Big 12 Player of the Year and Most Outstanding Player of the Big 12 tourney.

“Patrick knows how good they’re going to be and how hard it’s going to be to make sure your guys handle the physicality and athleticism of a Kansas,’’ Donahue said. “That’s first and foremost.

“You can strategize all you want, but if you can’t handle that, it’s going to be very difficult.

“My Cornell team, we had a 7-1 center [Jeff Foote] who could match up with their lottery pick at the time [Cole Aldrich], and then we had a 6-9 kid coming off the bench who started at Kentucky for a year, so we could match them physically.

“Then, obviously, we had an older team that was very good. But the first thing we did was we matched them physically on the boards.

“I have no idea if Patrick and BU can take advantage of that at all, because their size is so great and the difference is so much, so just to get low-post touches might help.

“It’s not on their home court, it’s a neutral site, and you know how those things go if you can get it going and get some momentum. And they do have a kid in Holland who can really score and they’ve got some other pieces and they’re playing so great that you hope it’s just one of those days that Kansas gets tight and you play your A game.’’

Said Chambers, “I just want to play hard for 40 minutes. If we can play hard for 40 minutes and you’re going to give me a chance down the stretch, I think it would be great. I would be ecstatic.’’

Michael Vega can be reached at vega@globe.com.