“He said, ‘oh, too fast for you, huh?'” – Roy Williams recalls Michael Jordan shocking UNC’s coaching staff with his growth spurt and unreal speed

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Michael Jordan was an unexpected hero in his first season with North Carolina. The young freshman emerged as a clutch performer in his final game of the season when he sank the game-winning shot against Georgetown. On that roster, there were some other big names, such as James Worthy and Sam Perkins, who were older and team leaders, but Jordan’s effort in practice led to him having a big role early.

In an interview, legendary basketball coach Roy Williams explained how he was impressed by Jordan’s improvement in just one year and also by his mentality, which set him apart from other players.

“It shows kids, people that guys can get better. They can get bigger, they can get stronger. And that’s what he did,” Williams said.

Michael Jordan’s unexpected rise as a freshman

He explained how Jordan came to UNC as a 6’4″ freshman and was already athletic and strong. However, he grew in his first season with the Tar Heels and became a 6 6″ sophomore. Even though it was expected that he would get slower as he grew, that didn’t happen.

Williams explained one practice in which the coaching staff was timing player’s 40-yard runs, and the three coaches at the time didn’t believe what they saw.

Related video: MJ vs. John Salley: When Salley Met the GOAT at the Rim (Stephen Jackson)

“We all three had hand stopwatches. So we’re not professional timers by any means, but he crossed the line. I looked, and I said, Coach Guthridge, what’d you get?” Williams said. “And he looked at me, and then Mark Davis said, ‘I got four, three, nine.’ And coach Guthridge said, ‘I got four, three, eight’. And I said, I did too.”

That finishing time confused Williams, as he didn’t believe Jordan had grown and still had a better time than in his freshman season.

“I said, ‘Michael, we missed your start. You made a mistake here’,” he explained. “‘Come on. I need you to run it again’. And he said, ‘Oh, too fast for you, huh?'”

Jordan stood on his words and ran again, proving to everyone that he didn’t make the mistake.

“He goes back to the line and runs it again. And all of us got below four, four as a sophomore. So he went from 6′ 4,5″ to 6′ 6″ and got faster.” Williams said.

The UNC work ethic that shaped Jordan’s career

That changed Williams’s view of the future. Now, he could see that players could get stronger, taller, and faster at the same time, but they had to put in the work. Jordan always gave his all, even in his first training camp with the team, when he came back for another practice after he was already done, as Williams recalled.

His hard work set a tone for his career. He improved drastically during his time at UNC, as he wasn’t a team leader at the start of his college career, but he developed into one when James Worthy went to the NBA after MJ’s freshman season.

Related: “That was by far the purest experience for me” – Michael Jordan once claimed to have enjoyed playing for UNC more than he ever did in the NBA