Last Night We Had Bill Walton Ranting About How UCLA Said 'No Thanks' To Michael Jordan Because They Didn't Have Space For Him

Here I am watching Arizona/UCLA hits us with a UCLA told Michael Jordan no thanks. Now here's the thing. He's not *entirely* wrong. There's an old story from Playboy that Michael Jordan wanted to play at UCLA, but they didn't recruit him when they heard he wanted to stay close to home. 

Jordan: I always wanted to go to UCLA. That was my dream school.

Playboy: Why?

Jordan: Because when I was growing up, they were a great team. Kareem Abdul-Jabbar, Bill Walton, John Wooden. But I never got recruited by UCLA.

Playboy: Even after your success in the Five-Star camp?

Jordan: By the time they wanted to recruit me, they had heard that I was going to stay close to home, which was not necessarily true. I also wanted to go to Virginia because I wanted to play with Ralph Sampson for his last two years there. He was going into his junior year. I wrote to Virginia, but they just sent me back an admission form. No one came and watched me. Then I visited North Carolina and I was happy with the atmosphere, so I committed early.

Makes it even more hilarious when he freaks out on Dave Pasch for not reading. Clearly, Bill Walton reads Playboy just for the articles. This interview was from 1992, which I'd assume is prime Playboy. Prime Playboy for me will always be the Sable magazine. Nothing like the thrill of stealing that magazine and finally seeing the puppies. Made your boy a man for a quick moment. 

Ron Galella. Getty Images.

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Jordan was a good recruit too. He wasn't 'can't miss' by any means, but he's a top recruit. UCLA would have been crazy to say they didn't have room for him. Then again, props to Walton for getting the story at least partially right. That's a win in the Walton world. They did go on to throw Larry Famer under the bus for being the coach here saying no for a good 30 minutes until Walton realized it was Larry Brown. 

Hmm, conspiracy theory time. Where did Larry Brown go to college? Was he doing a solid for Dean Smith? We know UNC wasn't a clean program, so I'm onto something here. 

This wasn't even my favorite Walton thing from last night. He put Dave Pasch's brain in beyond a pretzel. It was the straight up Walls of Jericho here: 

Riddle me that one Pasch!