Michael Jordan - The College Years

In "The Last Dance" documentary about Michael Jordan and the Chicago Bulls, they had some great footage and interviews about his time in college at North Carolina.

Coaches Dean Smith and Roy Williams both talked about how competitive and hard working he was from day one.

Coach Smith said that he was very inconsistent as a freshman, but he was one of the most competitive ones that they had in their drills.  He  said that MJ WANTED to get better, and he had the abiity to get better.

Its not about where you start, but how hard that you work, how willing you are to learn, and how much you are willing to compete.

Coach Williams had a couple of great quotes about his work ethic.  Williams said, "When I think of Michael Jordan, I think of 3 years of watching that youngster get BETTER and BETTER and BETTER.  Michael Jordan was the only player who could ever turn it on and off.  And he NEVER turned it off."

Coach Williams also told a story about how MJ wanted to be the best player to ever play at North Carolina:

Michael Jordan tells me one day that he wants to be the best player who ever played here.  I said, “Well, you gotta work harder than you did in high school.”  He said, “I worked as hard as everybody else.  I said,  “Excuse me?  I thought to you just told me that you wanted to be the best player who ever played here?”  He said, “I'm going to show you.  Nobody will ever work as hard as I will.”

Former teammate James Worthy said that Jordan would make him stay after practice everyday to play one-on-one.  He said that he was better than Jordan, for about 2 weeks.

These stories help see some of the drive and competitiveness that helped make Michael Jordan the great player that he was.