Vince Carter and Rasheed Wallace talk UNC Basketball

On ESPN’s ‘The Jump,’ Vince Carter and Rasheed Wallace talked about the UNC basketball program, and what could’ve been if they’d taken the court together in Chapel Hill.

In sports, there’s always the “what if” question that pops up about many circumstances.

Fans around the country debate the “what ifs,” such as “what if Michael Jordan never retired from the NBA to pursue a baseball career?”

These types of questions leave fans dreaming about the possibilities that could’ve occurred in the past. Recently, comments from former UNC basketball standouts Vince Carter and Rasheed Wallace have Tar Heel fans wondering what would’ve happened if the two stars ended up playing together in Chapel Hill.

On ESPN’s ‘The Jump,” Carter and Wallace were featured on a segment together. Of course, the conversation shifted to North Carolina basketball, and the two former basketball stars had a lot of great content to talk about.

For starters, the duo discussed how close they were to playing together in Chapel Hill. If you recall, Wallace starred at North Carolina from 1993-1995. Carter arrived on campus in 1995, right after Wallace departed for the NBA Draft.

In the segment, Carter talked about how much he hoped that Wallace and Jerry Stackhouse would’ve stayed on campus at least another year. Here’s what Carter had to say regarding the situation:

"“Once I committed I was praying… that (Sheed) and Stack stayed. I obviously remember Sheed in high school and when I took my visit there and of course when I played pick-up with them on my visit and got a chance to watch them play.”"

Carter went on to create the Tar Heels starting lineup if both players elected to stay in school. Here’s how Carter shaped up North Carolina’s would-be starting lineup:

Jeff McInnis

Vince Carter

Jerry Stackhouse

Antawn Jamison

Rasheed Wallace

In response to Carter’s proposed lineup, Wallace simply replied, “Wow. That would have been a heck of a five.”

Now, we all know how explosive of a player Vince Carter was. During his time in Chapel Hill, he was most definitely one of the most electric players in the entire sport.

Even though his attention was on his NBA career, Wallace took notice of what Carter was doing for the UNC basketball program:

"“In the hood we called them dummies. Like when you can jump really high for no reason, we call them dummies. So Vince had mad dummies, he jumped out of the building. His dunks at Carolina were way better mine. He was actually flying.And I got to give it to my Carolina brethren. He does have one of the coolest basketball nicknames out there: Half-man, Half-Amazing. To me, that is up there with the ‘Human Highlight Reel.’ That is a killer nickname in the league. And hey, it’s a Carolina thing.”"

One of the special things about the North Carolina basketball program is the sense of family that revolves around everyone involved. Whether you’re a current or former player, there’s a connection that the program seems to emphasize among those who have worn the Carolina blue.

Carter mentioned how even though they never took the court together, him and Wallace would hang around campus when the former Tar Heel big man would visit. Carter noted how Wallace helped show him the way to work with younger UNC basketball players:

"“Just spitting game on how to be a Carolina guy and what the league was like and just preparation. And that’s what Carolina basketball guys would do and that is why we are hated, I don’t know, talked about because of the brotherhood. And when you walk into Carolina that just becomes a part of you and he was a big reason why I became who I am as a veteran, going back with the young guys because of what he did for me.”"

Towards the end of the segment, both Carter and Wallace discussed their Carolina basketball family group chat. The two mentioned that there are about 50 people in the chat, and that the group consists of both younger and older guys.

From this short television segment, Vince Carter and Rasheed Wallace just added to what we already knew: it’s much more than just basketball when it comes to the UNC basketball program.

Continue to follow the Keeping It Heel team for all the latest news and updates regarding the UNC basketball program.