The Last Dance: Five Notre Dame Connections to Michael Jordan

Have you enjoyed “The Last Dance” on ESPN? Michael Jordan never played against Notre Dame but he did have more than a couple connections.

It’s hard for me to look back on any sport and think of a bigger villain than Bill Laimbeer was to Michael Jordan and the Chicago Bulls in the late-eighties and early-nineties.  Laimbeer along with Isiah Thomas helped lead the “Bad Boys” Detroit Pistons squad that knocked Jordan’s Bulls from the postseason in both 1989 and 1990.

Credit: Malcolm Emmons-USA TODAY Sports

Laimbeer was as dis-likable as any athlete one can remember watching, often getting into fights with the NBA’s biggest stars because of his ridiculous style of play.  Larry Bird, Charles Barkley and Michael Jordan are only a couple of the several to get roughed up by Laimbeer and the Pistons.

Later Jordan Rival Broke Notre Dame Hearts Years Earlier…