No moment reflects the difference in Stackhouse and Wallace more than one of Michael Jordan’s returns to Chapel Hill. Working himself back into shape for his post-baseball comeback, Jordan ran with the second team one afternoon. He stuck around after practice and played one-on-one with any and all comers. Wallace was already back in the locker room by the time the games commenced, his shoes off and his feet soaking in ice water. He wasn’t about to put them back on, either. Not even for His Airness.

‘Rasheed said he wasn’t playing. And it’s not that he’s not a competitor or anything,’ Hanners said. “He didn’t want to give Michael the satisfaction. But Jerry was up there playing until they couldn’t play anymore. Michael won them all. It’s just the difference in the two. Jerry, I don’t know if it was the ego or not, but he wanted to prove to Michael that he was as good as him. Rasheed knew he wasn’t and didn’t care one way or the other.”