With the NCAA Tournament currently underway, it is the perfect opportunity to look back at the time when Michael Jordan hit the first of many iconic shots and announced himself to the basketball world.
Although most players are recognized only after making it to the league, several are noticed when playing at a collegiate level. After all, the best players get drafted into the league a year or two after playing in college.
Fans will be stunned to hear that Jordan spent a full three years in college before beginning his career in the NBA. Now that the context has been provided, let us take a look back at the time when he was playing for North Carolina.
Michael Jordan Won the NCAA Title in His Freshman Season
We have to go back to March 29, 1982. Jordan was still relatively unknown but managed to help his team make it all the way to the NCAA Finals. The North Carolina Tar Heels were down 62-61 against Georgetown with 32 seconds left in the game.
Although his team was under pressure to score, coach Dean Smith was confident that his squad would be able to get the job done. He drew up a play for James Worthy to get the ball and score. However, he knew that Worthy had already scored 28 points and was likely to be double-teamed. As a result, he also informed Jordan to be prepared.
That turned out to be the right call. The ball ended up finding Jordan, who pulled up for a 16-foot jump shot with 17 seconds left in the game. While there was still an opportunity for Georgetown to make a final shot, they turned the ball over at a crucial juncture and lost the game.
Jordan and the North Carolina Tar Heels clung to the lead and won the NCAA tournament. The Chicago Bulls legend developed radically during his college career. While he may have been cut from his high school team, Jordan averaged 17.7 points, 1.8 assists, and five rebounds during his three seasons with the Tar Heels.
Fans will know what happened after that. The Chicago Bulls selected Jordan with the third pick in the 1984 NBA Draft, and he soon established himself as the face of the franchise. He won six championships within a span of seven years, including two three-peats. The Kobe and Shaq Lakers are the only other teams that managed to three-peat even once.
All of this speaks to Jordan’s greatness and why he is considered by many to be the greatest player of all time. His historic basketball career began with the game-winning shot at the NCAA tournament.