Michael Jordan is still the bell of the ball when it comes to basketball stories. Anything related to His Airness is usually worth sharing because of his impact not just in the NBA, but in college as well.
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NBA Hall of Famer and famed University of Virigina alumnus Ralph Sampson remembered balling against MJ during his days in college. It was a different time then. The ACC was the most stacked conference in college ball.
Sampson remembers well. He looked back on that fond time in college basketball during a recent interview on All The Smoke, where hosts Matt Barnes and Stephen Jackson asked him for some tales from his Virgina days.
“There was a pro player, at least 2, on every ACC team. And Clemson was the worst, but they had three pros and they were on the bottom,” stated Sampson to set the stage. Considering how stacked the division was, it’s even more impressive that he was a three-time ACC Player of the Year.
Barnes then wondered if Sampson had any stories involving Jordan, since Virginia and North Carolina would battle often. “We played college against each other. We won some games, they won some games,” he stated. Sampson then recalled one intense game the two schools had. It did not end well for them.
“Michael was now in his ‘Michael Mode.’ His defensive mode. They need a steal, something to change the game. He steals the ball from my point guard, and goes down and dunks and wins the game.” Not surprising. Jordan would do this often throughout his career. Steal the moment and win the game.
“The only one that ever stopped Mike from scoring was Dean Smith,” claimed Sampson. He did add that in that time MJ could have scored more if he wanted, but the Tar Heels were so stacked that it wasn’t necessary for him to have to take over. “You got a squad. They had Top 10 guys who could play.”
Stories like that just remind you how special that era of basketball really was. The ACC was loaded to the brim, future NBA stars were everywhere, and even then, Jordan was already showing flashes of what he’d become.
Sampson even said in 2020, “You didn’t worry about Michael Jordan back then because every night you’d get your tail beat if you weren’t ready to play.” He would list off names like Gene Banks, Albert King, and Buck Williams as examples of how prepped you had to be each night.
For Sampson to look back and still light up over those battles says a lot about the respect players had for each other back then. It’s just another classic reminder that before MJ ruled the NBA, he was already building his legend one steal and dunk at a time.
