As the UNC men’s basketball team looks to bounce back from the first losing season in 17 years under head coach Roy Williams, one of the key factors to watch this year will be the development of sophomore forward Armando Bacot.
The Tar Heels are guaranteed to start All-ACC senior Garrison Brooks in the frontcourt, but they’re also welcoming a pair of McDonald’s All-Americans to the fold in 7-foot-1 Walker Kessler and 6-foot-9 Day’Ron Sharpe.
Bacot brought a similar high-school pedigree when he arrived in Chapel Hill prior to last season, but injuries and inconsistency ultimately brought him back to school for another year.
Although Kessler and Sharpe are highly-talented, they’re still freshmen who have yet to experience a single game at the college level.
This is where Bacot’s development becomes so important, giving the Tar Heels another dominant force in the paint alongside Brooks. It will also allow Williams to return to his preferred playing style with two big men at the rim to swallow up offensive rebounds and get easy shots.
“That’s what I’ve been working on most of this offseason,” Bacot told reporters on Wednesday via Zoom. “Just being more physical around the rim and finishing through contact, but also extending my jump shot out and making a little mid-range, too.”
Although Bacot averaged nearly a double-double as a freshman with 9.8 points and 8.3 rebounds per game, he shot just 46 percent from the floor—a strikingly low number given his 6-foot-10-inch frame.
On three occasions last season, Bacot scored at least 21 points — doing so against Elon, Oregon and Clemson. In those games, he combined to make 23 of his 33 shots while also grabbing 31 total rebounds.
Despite flashing his potential in those games—which all happened before mid-January — Bacot struggled to find his form later in ACC play, scoring in double figures in just five of UNC’s final 12 games of the season.
Now with Kessler and Sharpe breathing down his neck for playing time, Bacot understands what plagued him a year ago and is doing what he can to try and teach his younger teammates how to avoid suffering the same fate.
“Just being inconsistent, just taking days for granted,” Bacot said. “That was something I did a lot last year. If I see them slouching around, I try to tell them, ‘Just pick it up, don’t take any day for granted, you should always want to go in the gym and just give your best because you never know when it can be taken away.’”
With the COVID-19 pandemic drastically altering the schedules of pro leagues across the globe, Bacot and the rest of the Tar Heels have had the added benefit of being able to practice and work out with former UNC stars like Tyler Hansbrough, Tyler Zeller, Ed Davis, Coby White and Cameron Johnson.
It didn’t take long battling with some of those guys for Bacot to realize some of the attributes that made them great.
“It’s crazy,” Bacot said. “I remember as a little kid watching Tyler Hansbrough seeing how good he was, and just actually being on the floor with him is kinda crazy. Y’all know how Psycho T is, he’s just so physical and it’s like he’s always trying to go through your chest every play. You just have to be prepared and try to not get a tooth knocked out.
“Tyler Zeller, he’s so skilled and he’s really good at scoring the ball,” he added. “So we’ve all been just taking stuff away from both of them.”
Bacot has fully embraced the competition so far this offseason, both with his teammates and the former players.
Having a loaded frontcourt means there will likely be a constant rotation of bodies in the paint, keeping everyone fresh — an idea which has Bacot excited.
These guys come to UNC to play for Williams and have a chance to compete for victories at the highest level of the sport. Without the chance to do that last season, Bacot is itching to correct the mistakes that kept both him and the team from meeting expectations.
“Obviously, we didn’t like how the season ended,” Bacot said. “Coach has been turnt up every day, and we’ve been bringing it every day. Not taking anything for granted. Coach has been on us about any little mistake, and that’s just the way it is. We’re trying to have a perfect season.”
Photo via Todd Melet
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