With North Carolina formally beginning practice on Oct. 14, THI is taking a deep look at the four main returning Tar Heels. We 've run Garrison Brooks, Andrew Platek and Leaky Black pieces in recent days, and now we have Armando Bacot.

One of the best things about Armando Bacot, as the formal start of practice nears for North Carolina, is that the 6-foot-10 native of Virginia is now a sophomore.

Last year was a struggle at times for Bacot. He battled injuries that just never seemed to completely go away. He fought the challenge of finding consistency in his game while a rare array of losses piled up for the fabled program.

And he had to swat away negative thoughts that admittedly hamstrung him for a stretch of the season.

Bacot is healthy, the Tar Heels should be much better, his game is more refined so he should be more consistent, so the voices that found a way into Bacot’s head last season should be a thing of the past. That’s the objective and he hopes is the result of an intense offseason zeroing in on every aspect of his game.

“Being more physical and finishing through contact,” Bacot said last week. “Getting in the weight room with my trainer. We hit it hard all summer working on finishing, watching a lot of video to see other bigs finish.