Armando Bacot made it official Wednesday and signed his National Letter of Intent to play basketball at The University of North Carolina.
The 6-10 big man at IMG Academy in Bradenton, FL, by way of Richmond, VA, says that it feels great to move from a verbal commitment to an officially signed one.
“I’m signing today and it’s such a relief to get it done and become a Tar Heel,” he said in a text with Tar Heel Illustrated.
The UNC staff worked for a couple of years to win over the skilled and soft-handed big man, who was the MVP of the Nike EYBL Finals last summer. Roy Williams and his staff worked extremely hard to build a relationship and closely monitor how the elite interior scorer’s game evolved. In fact, no college program made more visits than the Tar Heels.
“(Williams) said he would be up to see me more than any other coach and he did,” Bacot said. “He said nobody would work harder than him and he showed it. I really like the coaches, the atmosphere, and the history around the program.”
Bacot said the chance to play a big role in a program known to feature their big guys was a big part of the reason he selected the Tar Heels.
“Coach Williams wants me to come in and make an impact off the jump and that’s my goal,” he said. “They work the ball inside a lot and bigs do well at Carolina. I can play the high post and the low post and I’m excited to show that in college.”
Now that Bacot is onboard, his primary focus has been to add players to join him in the 2019 class. His primary target has been Cole Anthony, the best guard and arguably the best overall player in the USA. Bacot scheduled his official visit to be in town the same weekend that Anthony visited. And he feels good about the chances of landing the Oak Hill Academy point guard.
“I feel like we have a legitimate chance at him,” he said. “Especially since Cole is a winner and wants to win.”
