Young, Black, Rich, and Famous: The Rise of the NBA, the Hip Hop Invasion, and the Transformation of American Culture

The 1982 NCAA championship game between North Carolina and Georgetown will live in history as the beginning of a new era in college basketball. Though the Michigan State/Indiana State game from 1979, only a few years earlier, had introduced the world to Magic and Bird, this 1982 contest would feature several prominent individuals who would expand the game even further.

Most people will remember this game as the one where a freshman out of Wilmington, North Carolina, Michael Jordan, hit what turned out to be the game-winning shot. Jordan was the third option on a great Carolina team that featured James Worthy and Sam Perkins, among others. Yet coach Dean Smith decided that the youngster should take the last shot. Jordan stepped up and made it, launching what would become the greatest career in the history of basketball to date.

Though Jordan was the superstar-in-waiting that night, he was not the only superstar-to-be on the court. Worthy, of course, would go on to become known as “Big Game” James during his stellar career with the Lakers, and Perkins would have a long NBA tenure himself. On the other side of the ball, though, Georgetown center Patrick Ewing and his coach

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