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The never-ending New York Times story had a few flaws.

UNC athletics and Armando Bacot got a ton of publicity from the Times treatise that came out Tuesday and was so long that its audio version said it would take more than 43 minutes to listen to the whole thing.

Of course, we know most of what is reported because we live with it every day, but the major mistake was the premise that Bacot stayed for his senior year despite “projected to be chosen in the NBA Draft.”

That is dead wrong and perusal of the 2022 mock draft boards would have found Bacot almost never listed in either the first or second rounds, which meant that he would have to make a team as a free agent with an unknown income. Or go to Europe for a pretty good contract.

NIL money the creation of the Mondo Burger and other endorsements has made and since increased was really his only choice for instant wealth. His mother and business manager, Christie Lomax, is the pretty good source for the money he is making and has been quoted as saying “more than a half million” last season.

In fact, Bacot’s fame and fortune as the best rebounder in college basketball has not moved the needle into the first round, where all contracts are guaranteed, because scouts say he is undersized for an NBA big man and his game does not translate to the next level regardless of gaudy college stats.

So, he will face the same decision this summer —  enter the draft anyway or choose to take his COVID super senior year at Carolina, where he will remain a poster child for those who turned pro when they weren’t ready like Tony Bradley, Nassir Little and others who have not become NBA fixtures.

The Times piece may have made Bubba Cunningham mad, because his access and candor wound up portraying the usually optimistic athletics director as a sort-of doomsday predictor for the future of college athletics. Comparing it to pro sports, he said carefully that their “model has always been different.”

While Bacot tools around in his $80,000 Audi, Cunningham and retiring field hockey coach Karen Shelton show their concern that UNC may eventually have to cut some of its 28 varsity sports if school revenues from companies that have sponsored the Tar Heels for years are seriously siphoned off to pay athletes oversized NIL deals. Bubba and Karen might tell you their reported uncertainty is far too off into the future to have any relevance now.

The only question that will be answered in the next few months is will Bacot be back for a fifth year like Leaky Black is taking this season.

 

Featured image via Todd Melet


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