Roy Williams reveals why Michael Jordan missed North Carolina's championship win

Published Apr. 5, 2017 11:42 a.m. ET

Chris Bahr

Among the notable faces missing from North Carolina’s championship celebration on Monday night was perhaps the most famous Tar Heel of them all: Michael Jordan.

The man whose game-winning jumper delivered UNC’s 1982 national championship was nowhere to be found at University of Phoenix Stadium as the Tar Heels held on for a 71-65 win over Gonzaga. And now we know why.

Jordan, who was on hand for North Carolina’s title-game loss to Villanova last year, told coach Roy Williams that he was too superstitious to attend the big game this time around. Williams relayed the news on an appearance on the Dan Patrick Show (around the 4:50 mark in the full interview below):

“People asked me the last day and a half if he was going to come. And I said ‘he hasn’t called but guys, knowing him, he’s going to say I went last year and you lost.’ And so that’s what I was thinking. Our assistant AD Clint Gwaltney, we were walking to the bus last night and I said ‘I want to bet you a dollar, I’ll give you about any odds you want, but I’ll bet you there’s a text message from Michael or a voicemail from Michael and he’s going to say something about coming last year.’ And sure enough, I got on the bus and got my phone out of my backpack – so I left it on the bus. I had quite a few messages and one of them was from Michael, so I collected some money last night.”

So, win or lose, there were going to be no Crying Jordan memes this year.

During the Tar Heels' celebration on campus Tuesday, Williams did read a text from MJ that congratulated the Tar Heels on national title No. 6:

https://twitter.com/InsideCarolina/status/849410764079288322