UNC Alum Jerry Stackhouse Talks 1-on-1 vs MJ and Rasheed Wallace as a Teammate

Jerry Stackhouse went back to Chapel Hill in conversation with Rich, and two North Carolina legends came along for the ride: Rasheed Wallace, his college teammate, and Michael Jordan, the program's patron saint.

Start with Wallace, because Stackhouse clearly loves talking about him. "It's still fun to be around Rasheed Wallace right now," he laughed. Everybody loved Sheed, older players and younger players alike. Stackhouse insisted there was not a bad bone in his body, that he got along great with teammates.

The one exception was the officials. Even in practice at Carolina, Wallace would get a little excited, and Stackhouse remembered Coach Guthridge putting him on the line so the whole team had to run, maybe for a Sheed technical. Wallace brought that fire to the NBA, but Stackhouse wanted one thing understood: anyone who knows him knows he is about the right thing. He called Wallace the most unselfish player he ever shared a floor with, a teammate they sometimes had to force to shoot. "We need you to go down on the block and be who you are," they would tell one of the best talents Stackhouse ever played alongside.

Then came Jordan. Did the two ever connect at Carolina? Stackhouse said Mike used to come back to practice, and the stories from those pickup runs are the stuff of legend, even if only the participants remember them.

One moment stuck. Right before Jordan's comeback, he showed up at a Carolina practice, and the room decided he and Stackhouse should play one-on-one. They did, sort of. They never kept score, just went back and forth. Jordan, knowing Stackhouse's outside jumper was not there yet, kept daring him to shoot it. Stackhouse refused to take the bait, driving past him toward the rim instead.

The two later became teammates in Washington, and Stackhouse addressed the version of events people love to bring up. He felt he was in his prime while Jordan was at the end. But Jordan, he said, always believes he is the best player and the best option on the floor, and Stackhouse takes no offense to that. Jordan had wanted him there, valued his development over Rip Hamilton's, and wanted to win. Leaving a Detroit team that had just reached the second round for that situation felt awkward, Stackhouse admitted, but they made the best of it.

Off the court, the memories are pure: poker games and, in Stackhouse's words, some of the best wine the world has ever made. Nothing that happened in Washington dents his reverence. Jordan, he said, is the goat, the best basketball player to ever wear a pair of shoes, and an icon at North Carolina.

As for one day coaching his alma mater, Stackhouse did not hide the dream. He said the job stays in his heart and his soul, even as he keeps his focus on the pro level for now.