Bacot Still Hasn't Made Decision About Returning
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NOTE: Armando Bacot Thursday interview posted below.
CHAPEL HILL – Armando Bacot has one home game left in his fourth season at North Carolina, but that doesn’t mean it will be his last as a Tar Heel.
Bacot said during a press conference Thursday at the Smith Center, in advance of UNC’s game versus Duke on Saturday, he hasn’t yet made a decision about his future. Having one more year of eligibility, courtesy of the Covid year, he could return for a fifth season at UNC.
“I haven’t really looked too much ahead,” Bacot said. “I’ve been trying to keep things day-by-day, so I don’t really know yet. I haven’t made a decision.”
Bacot became Carolina’s all-time leading rebounder in January, passing program legend Tyler Hansbrough. And his reverence for the history of this fabled program and the importance of players’ career statistics offered some hints he wouldn’t return because it could skew his place in history given he’d have one more full season than any of UNC’s previous stat-sheet stuffers.
The 6-foot-10 Richmond, VA, native has already etched his name in some impressive company. In addition to having more rebounds than any Tar Heel in history, Bacot has the highest career average of offensive boards per-game (4.3) than any UNC player. He has smore 10-rebound game than any player ever at Carolina with 74.
His 1,778 points place him fifteenth on the all-time list, he is one of only three Tar Heels with 1,700 points, 1,000 rebounds, and 150 blocks along with Sam Perkins and Billy Cunningham. And, Bacot and current UNC assistant and 2005 National Player of the Year Sean May are the only Tar Heels to average double-doubles for their career in the last 50 years.
The eventual decision, however, will be about other factors. Bacot didn’t mention NIL, but that was partly why he returned for this season, and he likely will make as much or more money from his many endorsements. Personal and team goals, NBA prospects, and personal comfort are boxes for Bacot to consider, too.
“I think it’s just a mixture of all that stuff,” he said. “I think it’s one of those things I’ll look at, if I still want to be here or not, really.”
With 18 double-doubles on the season, and a school-record 67 for his career, Bacot is second on the team averaging 16.5 points, a number affected by him playing just one minute before being injured at Virginia, and scoring only a single point earlier this week at Florida State. He is also averaging 10.8 rebounds and is shooting 55.3 percent from the floor.
The Tar Heels, however, have not lived up to expectations, or even come close. The preseason No. 1 team, the players regularly described this season as “championship or bust,” but have been through a tough grind losing 11 times in 30 contests. The are currently on the NCAA Tournament fence.
Bacot desperately wants to hang a banner and have his jersey in the in the rafters, but he also wants to enjoy his life and appears in no rush toward his next step. Plus, he simply enjoys being at Carolina.
“The people, just everything about the school,” he said, when asked what he likes so much about being at UNC. “Since day one, when I came into school, they’ve just embraced me and kind of put me on the forefront of the school. The students are always great, the people, my professors have been good.
“Everything about the school has been great for me. It’s something I could never imagine.”
A decision will soon come, and perhaps he has already made up his mind but just hasn’t fully processed it yet. Regardless, he has one more home game left this season, and it’s against rival Duke. Bacot said that, and the Heels needing a Quad 1 win, are much more on his mind than this maybe being the last time he runs out of the tunnel at the Dean Dome.
He has one more of those, and who knows, maybe more than that.