Chuck Daly used to change his entire defense just to stop Michael Jordan. As coach of the Detroit Pistons, Daly instituted a system called the Jordan Rules, which were designed to keep Jordan from beating the Pistons single-handedly. Daly's team won two titles, and Daly's system was hailed as ingenious.

Only one problem.

The rules "really didn't work after Scottie Pippen developed another year," Daly said. "They became, very quickly, antiquated."

Daly was left with Joe Dumars, one of the best defensive guards in the NBA, to guard Jordan. Dumars was fantastic, but he wasn't good enough to stop Jordan. In a lifetime of coaching, Daly has never seen anybody who was.

"You'd have to have an extraordinary person," Daly said. "I haven't seen anybody who can control him without help."

Then you haven't heard of Dan Dakich?

Long pause.

"No, I don't think so," Daly said. "Should I have?"

Well, no. And yes.

Dakich is the head basketball coach at Bowling Green. He's also known in some circles--mostly, his own circle of friends--as the Last Mortal to Stop Michael Jordan. As a sometime-starter for Bobby Knight's Indiana Hoosiers in 1984, Dakich was called upon to guard Jordan, college basketball's reigning player of the year, in an NCAA tournament regional semifinal.

Jordan scored 13 points in the game, a mere nine against Dakich. Indiana pulled off a 72-68 upset and Jordan turned pro after the season, making his last college game a sweet memory for Dakich.

Dakich (rhymes with stoppage) has yet to grow tired of telling the story of the game.

"Never," Dakich said. "Never, ever."

The 1984 Tar Heels were too loaded to concentrate on any one player--they had four top-10 NBA draft picks--but Knight concentrated on one player anyway. He keyed on All-America power forward Sam Perkins.

Dakich was left to guard Jordan. Alone.

"I'm reading the NCAA record book before the game, and the (single-game scoring) record is 61, Austin Carr against Ohio University," Dakich said. "I know I'm guarding Jordan, and I'm thinking, `This guy ain't getting 61.' Then he scored four in the first minute. That's 160 over the course of the game. I remember running down the court thinking, `Dang, this guy could get 160!' "

But it wasn't Jordan's day. After those initial four points, Jordan missed some open shots and barely shot the ball the rest of the way. Jordan had to sit after a couple of early fouls, and when he returned the Tar Heels didn't get him the ball much.

"I think his teammates forgot who they were playing with," Dakich said.

Dakich may or may not have had something to do with Jordan's inability to score, but either way he felt like he had a Cuisinart in his stomach. Dakich played the game of his life with a stomach virus, and after he fouled out late he sat on the bench, vomiting into a bucket.

And still he guarded Michael Jordan for most of the game and held him to nine points.

After the game, a CBS staffer grabbed two Indiana players: Steve Alford and Dakich.

"I'm like, `I know why they grabbed Alford--Alford had 27,' " Dakich said. "I said, `What do you want with me? All I did was throw up in a bucket while the game was on the line.' "

When they went on the air, Dakich was asked how he stopped Michael Jordan. Dakich didn't even realize that he had stopped Michael Jordan, but here he was, on national television, and he had to say something.

He probably didn't have to say what he did, though.

"I looked right in the camera and said, `It wasn't that hard,' " Dakich recalled. "How brilliant is that?"

The phone in Dakich's hotel room kept ringing that night. Congratulations poured in, and for the life of him, Dakich couldn't figure out why.

Then he watched the tape.

There's Jordan, pulling up for a jumper, then changing his mind and firing an errant pass out of bounds.

CBS announcer Billy Packer: "And there's Dakich, making Jordan change his shot!"

Alford hits a three-pointer off a pass from Dakich.

"(Packer) is not talking about Alford," Dakich said. "He's talking about how I'm controlling the game with my passing."

Packer, as much as anybody, is responsible for the fact that some people still remember Dakich's defense on Jordan. But there are a few people who would probably remember it even without Packer's hyperbole. Like Dakich. And Jordan.

Dakich went to a Bulls-Knicks game a few years ago to see the Knicks' Eric Anderson, who had played at Indiana. Dakich got his ticket from Anderson's agent, David Falk--the same man who represents Jordan.

Jordan took Dakich and his brother to dinner at his restaurant, where they joked about the day they were equals.

As Dakich points out, the most he did was stop Michael Jordan, college basketball player of the year. He didn't really shut down Michael Jordan, legend, because nobody knew at that time how good Jordan would become.

They found out soon enough. The next autumn, Dakich was talking to Jim Crews, a former Hoosier who would go on to coach at Evansville. Crews asked Dakich if he had seen Jordan play recently.

"I saw him in the Olympics," Dakich said. "He might be the best player in the world."

Jordan had yet to play a professional game, but Crews didn't argue with Dakich.

"You better hope that guy becomes the greatest player ever," Crews said. "In 10 years they'll be talking about you."