Before Michael Jordan became ‘MJ’ and ‘His Airness’, the greatest basketball player of all-time was just another McDonald’s All-American recruit at North Carolina.
Given the otherworldly that Jordan became known for early in his career, it would be poetic if his first career collegiate points came on a thunderous dunk or a ridiculous finish in traffic. But it didn’t; Jordan’s first bucket as a Tar Heel came on a normal, fundamental floater after attacking a zone on the baseline.
You can watch more of Jordan’s first college game here, but in doing so, a couple of things stand out:
- When he kicked off his college career, Jordan was simply known as Mike.
- North Carolina started off the season by playing fellow Blue Blood Kansas on November 28th. That’s a full three weeks before the season starts these days.
- Basketball looked really weird before there was a three point line.
- The greatest player of all-time finished with 12 points on 5-10 shooting in his first career game.