When the University of North Carolina Tar Heels take on the Alabama Crimson Tide tonight in an ACC/SEC Challenge game, UNC will be doing so in uniforms that throwback to those worn by the GOAT Michael Jordan. (There are many fans of a certain vintage who argue — not unconvincingly — that the greatest basketball player of all time is MJ, but those fans probably never saw Bill Russell play.)
Still, it is almost inarguable that Michael Jordan was the greatest college player of his era, and certainly the most accomplished athlete ever to play for Carolina. Off the court, there are few more successful ex-athletes than His Airness, part of which includes having his own brand of apparel, in partnership with Nike. So, in an interesting twist of fate, not only will UNC be wearing Jordan-era throwbacks, they’ll also be wearing Jordan’s ubiquitous logo on the jerseys as well (so much for complete authenticity).
This won’t be the first time the Heels have worn uniforms that throw back to the Jordan era.
In addition, the school is calling for a whiteout (while using a photo of a Carolina-blue clad player), later changing it to an image of a player clad in the actual throwback.
The team unveiled the special uniforms on social media earlier this week. Let’s take a look:
And here are some closeups of the front and back of the jersey:
Pretty nice, right? And how do they compare to the original (the player and the uniform)?
Pretty spot on! Of course, the original uniforms worn by Jordan had no makers mark nor ACC logo patch, and the shorts were cut a lot shorter — as was the style then.
Speaking of Jordan and shorts length, I’m sure many if not most of you know this, but Jordan is famously superstitious, and this tendency led to a new trend in basketball in the mid-late 1980s. Jordan felt his UNC practice shorts were “lucky,” and once he entered the NBA, he continued to wear them underneath his Chicago Bulls shorts.
In order to conceal the practice shorts, Jordan had his Bulls shorts cut longer and baggier. This, of course began the era in which all basketball shorts started to become longer and baggier. The style was further popularized when Michigan’s “Fab Five” supercharged the big, baggy look. While inseam length and bagginess have waxed and waned since the 1990s, it’ll probably never go back to the length it was when Jordan entered the NBA and began to change NBA fashion for decades.
You could occasionally see the UNC practice shorts under his Bulls shorts during Jordan’s early days with the team.
— Jumpman History (@HistoryJumpman) September 22, 2020
While the two schools aren’t exactly rivals, there is a basketball history between the two that goes back as far as 1922. Very interesting stat: the schools have met 13 times in total, but only three of those games were home games for one of the teams. In the other 10 times the two schools met, they were all at neutral sites.
Tonight’s game will be just the fourth home game in the series. Carolina returns to the Dean E. Smith Center for the first time in nearly three weeks when they host Alabama in the ACC-SEC Challenge tonight at 7:15 pm (ET) on ESPN. The Tar Heels are ranked No. 20, with a 4-3 record on the season, while Alabama is 6-2 and ranked 10th in the nation.
“it is almost inarguable that Michael Jordan was the greatest college player of his era”
Actually, that is not true at all. While Michael Jordan is inarguably the greatest pro basketball player of his era, it is very easy to argue that he isn’t close to the greatest college player of his era. Probably not even the greatest ACC player of the time.
Ralph Sampson was 3x national player of the year. It’s not even arguable that Jordan was a better college player than him (unless you are a huge UNC homer)
Ralph Sampson?
Tyler Hansbrough.
Is nba success a criteria for college basketball greatness?
If so, odd and intellectually dishonest
Jordan the greatest college hoops player? Nope. Might want to check into Kareem Abdul-Jabbar (then Lew Alcindor) or Bill Walton before making that claim.
My bad. Missed the “of his era” part of that statement. Sorry.
In his 1980’s era, Jordan makes the short list, but here are a few other names. Keep in mind, this is only college, not factoring in what they went on to do (or not do) in the NBA.
Ralph Sampson, Patrick Ewing, Danny Manning, Mark Aguirre, Chris Mullin, Danny Ferry
His era = game against georgetown seen later on espn classics by people who werent alive or paying attention at the time
And incidentally, Go Tarheels!
David Thompson > Bill Walton
Not a huge fan of incorporating non-uniform opinions into these pieces, especially when a player who isn’t even a lock for top 5 is presented as the objective greatest player of all time…
Yet you failed to give an opinion on the uniforms, making yours a hypocritical take, right?
The uniforms? *chef’s kiss* Carolina blue and white. I would like to see the front numbers shortened to be more accurate (compare the pic of Jordan against Trimble). Beyond that, I love UNC’s regular look but the throwbacks are nice.
And we tied an onion to our belt, as was the style then.
I’d say personally I’m decently well versed on both NCAA mens and NBA history and I would have to agree.
His college career was kinda gauged by “The Shot” against Georgetown. He benefitted from a legendary pro career sorta like how a popular broadcasters legacy gets augmented post playing days.
“Jordan felt his UNC practice shorts were ’lucky,’ and once he entered the NBA, he continued to wear them underneath his Chicago Bulls shorts.”
Almost as good as his Secret Stuff.
Maybe it’s the photographs, but the hue looks a little bit different. Nice uniforms, though, ignoring the strange perforations in the new version.
If there is a perfect use for the jumpman logo, this is it. I don’t mind it on most basketball gear, since it’s specific to the sport and also generic enough, but I hate seeing it on stuff for other sports.
The shorts are funny to me, because that point in time when they got really baggy was when I was first becoming aware of uniforms and clothing choices, so the baggy shorts look “right” to me. Seeing the hemlines shorten rapidly over the last few years was a strange experience, especially in the non-sports world.
He was before my time, but I would have to think Bill Russell deserves a seat at the GOAT table. The man won everywhere he went. Wilt Chamberlain, too – the rulebook was changed for him because of his dominance. And I say this as a UNC grad, so even accounting for a degree of homerism, I think it is a murky argument. I always found Kobe as being very derivative of Jordan. LeBron has a different game and came of age in a totally different world in terms of media coverage. But the modern game was built on the backs of Kareem, Doc, Larry and Magic. It was within my lifetime that the NBA Finals were shown on tape delay. Imagine that.
The uniforms? *chef’s kiss*
Fun Fact: Illinois did baggy in CBB before Michigan.