North Carolina basketball: All-time starting 5 – From Michael Jordan to Psycho T

SG – Michael Jordan

Usually, a player of the caliber and status of Michael Jeffrey Jordan would close out a slideshow like this. However, everyone who read the headline of this article knew that MJ would be a member of this group so why put off the inevitable? Jordan is arguably the greatest of all-time when it comes to basketball and his three years at Chapel Hill showed flashes of the potential he would go on to fulfill.

Everyone knows the story of how Jordan was cut from the varsity basketball team during his high school career but a story that points more towards the player he would eventually become is told by James Worthy. Worthy would be entering his final year with the program when Jordan joined and he says that in less than a month the freshman was the best player on the team.

He came through on Worthy’s words in the 1982 national championship game. He hit the first of many memorable game-winners in his illustrious basketball career. There’s a running joke that Dean Smith is the only person to ever hold Jordan under a scoring average of 25 points per game — he averaged 13.5, 20 and 19.7 respectively during his three seasons with the Tar Heels.

Upon leaving early for the NBA, Jordan was an ACC Rookie of the Year, ACC Player of the Year, two-time All-ACC selection, two-time consensus All-American, Associated Press Player of the Year, Rupp Trophy, Naismith and Wooden Award recipient. His jersey isn’t the only thing that hangs over the court at the Dean Dome, his legacy lives on from the logo on the jersey to the shoes on the players’ feet.