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University of North Carolina Athletics
Photo by: Hugh Morton
Lucas: Rock The Cradle
May 10, 2020 | Men's Basketball, Featured Writers, Adam Lucas
Some of the details of Michael Jordan's legendary dunk were refreshed on Sunday.
By Adam Lucas
In the instant that it happened, even Raycom commentators Mike Patrick and Jeff Mullins (a former Duke player) knew they had seen something extraordinary.
As soon as Michael Jordan threw down the now-legendary rock the cradle dunk at Maryland's Cole Field House, Patrick uttered his now-famous, "Look at that!" In the re-aired game on ESPN Sunday afternoon, though, we got the rest of the conversation.
Mullins: "You think we might've seen a highlight film move there? That will be in someone's highlight film coming up real soon."
It has, of course, been a staple of highlight films ever since. But there was one outlet where you never saw the replay: Dean Smith's television show that weekend.
By 1984 standards, Jordan's explosive dunk was considered such an in-your-face play that Smith asked Woody Durham not to include video of the play in the next television show. The Voice of the Tar Heels complied, of course, meaning that in the entire national sports landscape, the only show that didn't include the clip of the rock the cradle was Carolina's own basketball highlights show.
The rebroadcast was a nice reminder that Maryland and the vociferous Cole Field House environment probably helped goad Jordan into the indelible moment. Even on a normal day, Cole was considered one of the most hostile places to play in the Atlantic Coast Conference. Fueled by the always energetic Lefty Driesell, it was even more intense for a showdown between 10-0 Carolina and the 10-1 Terps.
Driesell had a way of making you believe his bunch of ragamuffins were lucky to even be on the court with a star-studded group like the Tar Heels. In advance of the 1984 game at Cole, he said, "Dean gets every damn player he wants. All I know is, I've recruited every player on his team and he ain't recruited a one of mine."
That was just the kind of motivation his home crowd needed. The Thursday night atmosphere was raucous. Patrick had already noted on the broadcast that fans were throwing cups. Jordan had received a (slightly dubious) technical foul for hanging on the rim. And in perhaps the best sign of the game's intensity, even Sam Perkins—whose usual game-time demeanor was slightly above laconic—was boisterously jumping and clapping to celebrate an offensive rebound hoop over Maryland center Ben Coleman. Perkins also uncharacteristically gestured to the crowd to boo louder with 40 seconds left and Carolina taking control of the game.
The Tar Heels were in position to take that control largely because of Jordan. In a one-point, 57-56 game with under six minutes to play, the Tar Heel junior did the following in succession:
Beat two Maryland defenders baseline and was fouled.
Made one of two free throws, then grabbed the offensive rebound of the missed second shot.
Made another absurd baseline move, missed the shot, recovered his own offensive rebound and scored.
Hit a guarded midrange jumper over 6-foot-6 Herman Veal.
Just like that, it was 62-56. There's a common refrain that Jordan wasn't as good in college as he was in the NBA. Well, of course. He was 20 years old. He didn't become the best player in the history of the game for another decade. But he was still a terrific college player and the consensus choice for National Player of the Year in 1984. He was, by almost any measure, a great college player. In this game alone, he was by far the most gamechanging individual in a contest that included three other Carolina starters (Brad Daugherty, Sam Perkins and Kenny Smith) with 35 years of combined NBA service, plus Maryland's Len Bias, who almost certainly would have been a perennial NBA All-Star.
Oh, and there was also Jordan's legendary competitiveness. In the immediate aftermath of his rock the cradle dunk—likely with some encouragement from Smith—he tried to downplay the moment. "There was no message at all," he said. "I don't have a name for the dunk."
No message at all, huh? Does that sound like the Jordan attitude you've seen in the first six episodes of the ESPN documentary The Last Dance? Does he strike you as someone who wouldn't have noticed the competitiveness of an ACC game against a heated rival? As surely as Driesell believed Smith was turning the heat up at Carmichael Auditorium, Jordan knew exactly what he was doing.
His teammates' comments after the game were telling.
"I see it every day in practice," Daugherty said.
"I knew that dunk was in his repertoire," Kenny Smith said. Jordan has said he picked up the idea for the move from former Tar Heel Al Wood during one of the summer pickup sessions between current Carolina players and Tar Heel alums.
Matt Doherty, who by that point had been observing Jordan for three years, wasn't surprised. "I knew he was going to do it," Doherty said. "I'd do it too—if I could."
But none of us could, either then or since. And somehow, almost 40 years later, the moment has slightly outlived the snub from the Dean Smith television show.
In the instant that it happened, even Raycom commentators Mike Patrick and Jeff Mullins (a former Duke player) knew they had seen something extraordinary.
As soon as Michael Jordan threw down the now-legendary rock the cradle dunk at Maryland's Cole Field House, Patrick uttered his now-famous, "Look at that!" In the re-aired game on ESPN Sunday afternoon, though, we got the rest of the conversation.
Mullins: "You think we might've seen a highlight film move there? That will be in someone's highlight film coming up real soon."
It has, of course, been a staple of highlight films ever since. But there was one outlet where you never saw the replay: Dean Smith's television show that weekend.
By 1984 standards, Jordan's explosive dunk was considered such an in-your-face play that Smith asked Woody Durham not to include video of the play in the next television show. The Voice of the Tar Heels complied, of course, meaning that in the entire national sports landscape, the only show that didn't include the clip of the rock the cradle was Carolina's own basketball highlights show.
The rebroadcast was a nice reminder that Maryland and the vociferous Cole Field House environment probably helped goad Jordan into the indelible moment. Even on a normal day, Cole was considered one of the most hostile places to play in the Atlantic Coast Conference. Fueled by the always energetic Lefty Driesell, it was even more intense for a showdown between 10-0 Carolina and the 10-1 Terps.
Driesell had a way of making you believe his bunch of ragamuffins were lucky to even be on the court with a star-studded group like the Tar Heels. In advance of the 1984 game at Cole, he said, "Dean gets every damn player he wants. All I know is, I've recruited every player on his team and he ain't recruited a one of mine."
That was just the kind of motivation his home crowd needed. The Thursday night atmosphere was raucous. Patrick had already noted on the broadcast that fans were throwing cups. Jordan had received a (slightly dubious) technical foul for hanging on the rim. And in perhaps the best sign of the game's intensity, even Sam Perkins—whose usual game-time demeanor was slightly above laconic—was boisterously jumping and clapping to celebrate an offensive rebound hoop over Maryland center Ben Coleman. Perkins also uncharacteristically gestured to the crowd to boo louder with 40 seconds left and Carolina taking control of the game.
The Tar Heels were in position to take that control largely because of Jordan. In a one-point, 57-56 game with under six minutes to play, the Tar Heel junior did the following in succession:
Beat two Maryland defenders baseline and was fouled.
Made one of two free throws, then grabbed the offensive rebound of the missed second shot.
Made another absurd baseline move, missed the shot, recovered his own offensive rebound and scored.
Hit a guarded midrange jumper over 6-foot-6 Herman Veal.
Just like that, it was 62-56. There's a common refrain that Jordan wasn't as good in college as he was in the NBA. Well, of course. He was 20 years old. He didn't become the best player in the history of the game for another decade. But he was still a terrific college player and the consensus choice for National Player of the Year in 1984. He was, by almost any measure, a great college player. In this game alone, he was by far the most gamechanging individual in a contest that included three other Carolina starters (Brad Daugherty, Sam Perkins and Kenny Smith) with 35 years of combined NBA service, plus Maryland's Len Bias, who almost certainly would have been a perennial NBA All-Star.
Oh, and there was also Jordan's legendary competitiveness. In the immediate aftermath of his rock the cradle dunk—likely with some encouragement from Smith—he tried to downplay the moment. "There was no message at all," he said. "I don't have a name for the dunk."
No message at all, huh? Does that sound like the Jordan attitude you've seen in the first six episodes of the ESPN documentary The Last Dance? Does he strike you as someone who wouldn't have noticed the competitiveness of an ACC game against a heated rival? As surely as Driesell believed Smith was turning the heat up at Carmichael Auditorium, Jordan knew exactly what he was doing.
His teammates' comments after the game were telling.
"I see it every day in practice," Daugherty said.
"I knew that dunk was in his repertoire," Kenny Smith said. Jordan has said he picked up the idea for the move from former Tar Heel Al Wood during one of the summer pickup sessions between current Carolina players and Tar Heel alums.
Matt Doherty, who by that point had been observing Jordan for three years, wasn't surprised. "I knew he was going to do it," Doherty said. "I'd do it too—if I could."
But none of us could, either then or since. And somehow, almost 40 years later, the moment has slightly outlived the snub from the Dean Smith television show.
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