As Caleb Wilson finishes is way-too-short time as member of the University of North Carolina basketball team, he said good-bye to campus this week in an epic way.
There are a lot of things wrong with college sports in general right now, but one of the things that’s still right is these shining stars are members of the campus community, and at any time one of them could
just walk onto a court and play against a group of students working off some steam. All of a sudden you get a chance to go up against a future NBA star and have a story that you can tell others that will pass down the generations.
This brings up a question: say you were in this situation where you were playing pick up, which UNC player would you look at coming on the court and just dread the next few minutes of your life?
So yes, we all know the answer is Michael Jordan. By the way, that answer is still applicable today, because his famous intensity and desire to win no matter the cost means that when you get over the “holy bleep I’m playing with Michael Jordan” feeling, you will undoubtedly shift to “holy bleep I’m playing Michael Jordan.”
Let’s throw His Airness out of the question; who else from Carolina’s history would you not feel good about playing? The fun part of having such a deep history of talent is that you can start pulling up all sorts of names and all of them would make you feel like you were about to get your shorts handed to you. James Worthy in his heyday would have ruled Woolen Gym. Think Caleb Wilson enjoys dunking? What would it have been like when Vince Carter walked out there and said he had next? The same psycho energy that Jordan had manifested itself inside Tyler Hansbrough. You know when he plays you’re probably getting an elbow in the chest and at some point he’s going to make it look ugly.
But if you fancy yourself a shooter, maybe you don’t fear the big men as much but all of a sudden RJ Davis, Coby White, or Ed Cota walks out there on the court. You might think you have a shot by hitting one or two, but they are going to just pour in the buckets on you without giving it a second thought.
The possibilities are endless. The fun part about all of this is that it’s very likely that each and every one of those players have done just what we are describing and assembled a group to play on the Woolen Gym floor or out in the fresh air of the Cobb Courts. It’s possible, as you’re reading this, that you have a story that you want to share about that experience.
Oh but you think it’s just basketball players? What about some of the best players from other sports? There are stories of Lawrence Taylor playing softball, you can imagine that Drake Maye probably popped into a pickup game like his older brothers, and I’m sure a few people would cringe if they saw Julius Peppers decide he wanted to get a little run.
Use the comments below and let us know who you’d hate to see walk on the court as you were set to play some pick up ball.
