Roy Williams tells hilarious story of when Michael Jordan, Patrick Ewing visited UNC together

Roy Williams recently told a hilarious story of the competitive bond between Patrick Ewing and Michael Jordan, revealed on their visit to UNC together

Eventually, Michael Jordan and Patrick Ewing would become bitter rivals throughout their time playing college basketball and then furthermore during their time in the NBA as professional players (most famously with the Chicago Bulls and New York Knicks, respectively).

In 1982, Jordan would hit a huge shot in the baby blue to ice the national championship for the North Carolina Tar Heels over Ewing’s Georgetown Bulldogs.

Prior to becoming college rivals, though, Jordan and Ewing visited Chapel Hill together as recruits to potentially become teammates.

On a recent podcast with Danny Green and Harrison Sanford, Roy Williams — now head coach of the Tar Heels, then assistant to Dean Smith —  recalled a story of Jordan and Ewing’s visit to the campus.

"“So Patrick and Michael, I’m taking them to the football game. So they had met with coach Smith that morning, and so I took them down to the locker room to do something… And we’re walking through Carmichael and there’s a ball there, and so Michael got the ball and he’s picking at Patrick and he’s bouncing into him, shooting it and he’s yapping, cause Michael always could talk. I say, ‘guys, just three or four more minutes and then we’ve gotta go to the football game.’ And so Michael still picking at Patrick, and so Patrick got the ball and didn’t say anything and backed him down once and backed him down twice and then just went up and almost broke the backboard. And Micahel said, ‘coach, I’m ready to go, let’s go.’ He had had enough, he had picked on Patrick enough.”"

It’s a pretty wild picture for basketball fans — One of the people who would go on to become one of the greatest coaches in college basketball taking two youngsters that would become some of the greatest in the NBA to the gym for a quick errand for them to play a previously unheard of game of one-on-one in an almost empty gym.

It wraps up the psyche of each player, too. Jordan, always talking trash, willing to take on the player with the larger stature and more physical frame, always looking for competition, and Ewing staying quiet yet asserting his dominance and utilizing his physicality.

Though Ewing got the best of Jordan with the final dunk here according to Williams, he praised Jordan’s ability (as well as Scottie Pippen) to hang with him and take the brunt of his force.

Speaking to Jackie MacMullan, Ewing said:

"“The thing about [Jordan] and Scottie was they were big enough, strong enough and athletic enough to challenge a guy like me. Michael could take that initial bump. Most guys couldn’t or didn’t want to absorb the contact. [Jordan] didn’t care.”"

It has to make you wonder, how different would things have been if Ewing and Jordan both went to UNC and were teammates with James Worthy? Would they have won more than just the 1982 title?