North Carolina’s Armando Bacot says he received nearly ‘100 DMs’ from upset sports bettors: ‘It’s terrible after the…
In the final minute of the first half of a relatively sleepy ACC quarterfinal Thursday, Armando Bacot forced his 6-foot-10, 240-pound frame into the lane at Capital One Arena. How many times has the legion of North Carolina men’s basketball fans seen this? Here was Bacot, perfectly timing an errant shot, corralling the rebound. Here was Bacot, getting a second offensive rebound on a single possession. Here was Bacot, going back up, extending Carolina’s lead over Florida State.
And here was Bacot, coming back to the floor, letting out a scream that originated in his size 18 Nikes and worked its way through his massive frame.
“That,” he said, “was a lot of fun.”Bacot isn’t always the Tar Heels’ best player as he was in Thursday’s cakewalk of a 92-67 victory over the Seminoles. Point guard R.J. Davis was the ACC’s player of the year, and this version of Carolina is deep and talented enough that a breakout could come from any number of sources.
But he is nothing short of a historic figure in college basketball. Hyperbole? Not close. Consider his path.
Bacot entered college in an era when the best prospects bolted for the NBA after a season or two — and he stayed five. His career spans a period in which players change schools as often as they change ends of the court — and he never contemplated transferring from Carolina. He arrived in college before athletes could profit off their names, images and likenesses — and he became a leading character in profiting off just that.
