North Carolina big man Armando Bacot is returning to Chapel Hill for the 2023-24 season, he announced via Stadium on Wednesday. Here’s what you need to know:
- The four-year starter will be back with the Tar Heels this fall for his fifth and final year of eligibility.
- Bacot averaged 15.9 points and an ACC-best 10.4 rebounds in 32 games last season.
- The 23-year-old has earned two first-team All-ACC honors and owns the program’s all-time rebounding record.
— Carolina Basketball (@UNC_Basketball) March 22, 2023
The Athletic’s instant analysis:
What Bacot’s return means for UNC in 2023-24
It’s as significant a move as the Tar Heels will have all offseason. Bacot averaged 15.9 points and 10.4 rebounds last season as, at times, UNC’s only interior presence. His 50 double-doubles over the last two seasons are the most in the country, outpacing Kentucky’s Oscar Tshiebwe and Purdue’s Zach Edey, and that sort of dominance inside is something every college team can use. More importantly, Bacot returning for his fifth season will provide coach Hubert Davis with at least one proven leader next season, with future decisions still pending from guards Caleb Love and R.J. Davis.
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At this point in his career, Bacot is what he is: a proven interior scorer and rebounder with limited upside outside of the paint. The trick for him next season will be overcoming some of the injury issues — specifically with his ankle and shoulder — that limited him at times this season. When he’s healthy, he’s been as productive as any big nationally over the last two years, and that should continue in 2023-24. Other than Pete Nance, North Carolina didn’t have any true post options behind Bacot in the past, and that’s an issue it will need to remedy this offseason to get the most out of the All-American. — Marks
Why would Bacot want to return?
A few reasons. For starters, Bacot at present does not have an NBA future — which is fine — and stands to earn more money in NIL than he would playing professionally overseas. (That conversation with his accountant should have taken 10 seconds, tops.) Bacot is one of the more marketable stars in college basketball, and given his time in North Carolina’s business school, he’s capitalized on his likeness as well as any Tar Heel since the advent of NIL.
For basketball reasons, it’s also clear. Bacot wouldn’t be drafted by the NBA if he declared this summer, and returning gives him one last shot to prove to pro teams why he’s worth taking a shot on. But also, with North Carolina missing the NCAA Tournament this season — and becoming the first preseason No. 1 team to miss the field since it expanded in 1985 — coming back gives Bacot a re-do. Should he lead the Tar Heels deep into the NCAA Tournament next season, or win any number of individual awards, he’ll enhance his legacy and potentially earn himself a spot in the Smith Center rafters, which he currently does not have.
Lastly, assuming he stays healthy this coming season, Bacot will have a real shot at becoming the NCAA’s modern-era rebounding leader. He’s currently No. 13 all-time, 338 behind Kenneth Faried. Again, earning that notch — even with it coming in five seasons compared to four — would greatly enhance his legacy. — Marks
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Where does UNC go next with its roster around Bacot?
With four players having already entered the transfer portal, all of them wings — Tyler Nickel, Dontrez Styles, Justin McKoy, and as of Wednesday morning, Puff Johnson — all UNC can do now is wait for decisions from Love and Davis. What the team’s starting guards choose to do will dramatically impact where North Carolina goes in the transfer portal.
But already, regardless of what Love and Davis do, there’s a clear need to add at least one starting-caliber wing in the portal. With the departures of those four players into the portal, and Leaky Black now out of eligibility, Hubert Davis needs to find a few perimeter presences — ideally, ones who can shoot from 3 and defend multiple positions. Plus, even if Jalen Washington ends up starting at power forward, it would behoove UNC to shore up its frontcourt depth behind him and Bacot. Four-star freshman Zayden High arrives as a developmental piece, and redshirt freshman Will Shaver falls in the same bucket, so adding a third big is still imperative. Hubert Davis hasn’t been shy about dipping into the transfer portal the last two offseasons, but the need to come out with multiple contributors this summer will be his toughest task yet. — Marks
Evaluating Bacot’s professional prospects
First and foremost, as Brendan said above, this is a no-brainer for Bacot financially. He stands to make way more by staying at North Carolina, so I’ve thought this was a real possibility for a while. The other piece of it is that NBA teams are just not all that interested in Bacot right now. It’s very likely he would have gone undrafted in the 2023 NBA Draft. It’s not impossible he’d have been picked, but I had him currently at No. 93 on my board.
A lot of that starts on defense. Bacot is a below-average defensive player right now by NBA prospect standards at the center position. He’s not a total sieve, but he’s not a positive right now in the way that teams like from the center position. North Carolina tried to showcase him as a potential switch defender early in the season to poor results. However, he’s also not quite big enough to be a true rim protector at this point. He blocks about one shot per game, and there isn’t really much of a difference for North Carolina in terms of numbers defending at the rim when Bacot is on or off the floor. He’s not wildly long, and doesn’t really project as a positive drop coverage defender. He’ll need to show that he can play at the level of screens more consistently and then slide back to recover onto his man. Improving his mobility to its absolute best potential will be essential for him to have a chance.
It would also behoove Bacot to improve his skill game. Bacot is tremendously productive, averaging 16 points and 10 rebounds per night. But a lot of his offensive possessions either come on the block or off of the offensive glass. NBA teams don’t really look for those skills when projecting for the next level. Bacot might never necessarily be a floor-spacing, shooting center. But I think it would be good for him to improve in a few other ways that would really help his future professional prospects. Becoming more comfortable out away from the rim handling the ball will be incredibly important. He can be a better short-roller and passer when teams put two players on the ballhandler. He needs to be able to take advantage of four-on-three situations like that. Getting up to the three-assist-per-game mark would really be a big help, and he can do that just by watching tape and becoming more comfortable with where help defenders rotate toward out of ball-screens or even off of his post-ups. There are a lot of little things he can do in order to help himself — and honestly to help North Carolina get better — without changing who he is as a physical, powerful big man.— Vecenie
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What they’re saying
“I felt it was the right decision for my future,” Bacot told Stadium. “The primary reason I am coming back is because I don’t want to leave North Carolina this way. But I also know I need to improve and feel like this is the best place to do that.”
https://t.co/vvAHsPjgpV pic.twitter.com/jt0Z1Ga7qq
— Armando Bacot Jr. (@iget_buckets35) March 22, 2023
Required reading
(Photo: Jaylynn Nash / USA Today)
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