During Michael Jordan’s junior and senior year, he was averaging about 25 points a game. While playing in his final season, he was chosen to play for the McDonald’s All-American team. I’m sure you can guess who made the winning shots. Colleges were lining up out the door to recruit him.
He eventually accepted a scholarship offer from North Carolina. After playing three seasons for North Carolina, Michael Jordan entered the NBA in 1984. The Chicago Bulls took him with the third overall pick, and they were sure glad they did.
"You're Too Short!"
Surprisingly, Michael Jordan didn’t always want to play basketball. He initially wanted to follow in his father’s footsteps and play baseball. We aren’t sure when he fell in love with basketball. However, when he tried out for his high school basketball team during sophomore year, they told him he was too short!
Michael wasn’t someone who would quit anything, so he began obsessing over the sport, practicing as much as possible to sharpen his skills. The summer following his sophomore year he went through a growth spurt and gained an additional four inches. When he tried out again, something amazing happened.
A Weatherman Was His Plan B Career
Michael Jordan had said that if basketball didn’t pan out for him, he was going to pursue a career as a weatherman. To back that up, he went back to finish school in 1986 to obtain his degree in cultural geography which is an intro to meteorology.
In order to become a weatherman, one would need to study meteorology. He decided to get his first degree just in case the Chicago Bulls decided to cut him from the team. Obviously, things turned out well for him in the NBA and never used his degree.
Rookie of the Year
Michael Jordan killed it his first year in the league by averaging 28 points per game, was named an All-Star, and won Rookie of the Year. If that wasn’t enough of an accomplishment, he also scored 40 or more points in six games. In most cases, it takes players one to two years to fully develop, but Michael Jordan proved he was ready to go from the start.
Jordan wasn’t satisfied with just being a rookie sensation. After two years of being in the NBA, he went back to college to get a degree in Geography.
Against All Odds
Something amazing happened when Michael Jordan and the Chicago Bulls joined forces. For eight years they never lost more than three games in a row, including the playoffs! This included a total of 500 games and 126 playoff games.
There was a man named Ben Blatt, who was part of the Harvard Sports Analysis Collective, and he did the math to figure out the odds of something like this would ever happen again. His results founded that it would be one in 140. Many of us are wondering if it will ever happen again.