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University of North Carolina Athletics
Photo by: Jeffrey A. Camarati
Lucas: Bacot Preparing For Big Step Forward
June 11, 2020 | Men's Basketball, Featured Writers, Adam Lucas
Carolina's sophomore big man has made good use of workouts prior to returning to campus.
By Adam Lucas
The summer lockdown hasn't deterred Armando Bacot from getting in workouts with a variety of Tar Heels.
This would traditionally be the time of year when current players are playing against Carolina basketball alumni virtually every day in afternoon and evening pickup games. But campus remains closed and basketball players don't return until July 6. Fortunately for Bacot, there's no shortage of good talent in his hometown of Richmond and the surrounding area. The rising sophomore has worked out several times with 2009 Carolina national champion Ed Davis, a fellow Richmond native.
"He's such a smart player, and there's so much I can learn from someone who has been in the NBA for ten seasons," Bacot said. "The first thing he told me was not to spend a lot of time trying to dunk everything. He said I need to put in the work on my touch and hooks and go-to moves rather than easy stuff like dunking. Ed told me he made a huge jump going into his sophomore year and I want to do the same thing."
Davis is right; he played quality minutes (almost 19 per game) on the loaded 2009 team but performed even better as a sophomore when his minutes jumped to 28 per game before suffering a wrist injury that effectively ended his Tar Heel career. Davis averaged 13.4 points and 9.6 rebounds per game as a sophomore.
Bacot averaged 9.6 points and 8.3 rebounds as a freshman and had some stellar performances—he had 23 points and 12 boards against Oregon in the Bahamas, a 15-point/12-rebound double-double against UCLA, and two double-doubles in the final three games of the season. But he also struggled through some typical freshman inconsistency, shooting just 45.9 percent from the floor and seeing his rebounding numbers go down against Atlantic Coast Conference opponents.
Although Bacot is working out in an effort to be prepared for his reintroduction to Jonas Sahratian next month, he also expects some mental adjustments entering his sophomore season to pay just as many dividends as his physical progress.
"College basketball is a rude awakening," he said. "At first, you laugh when the older guys tell you about how to take care of yourself and use your time. But now I know that it actually is important to go to sleep earlier, to get in the gym earlier rather than later to be prepared for practice, and to be more locked in. I want to have more attention to detail this season."
It will be Bacot as the wizened alum trying to pass on those lessons to the incoming freshman, and he'll have an opportunity to do that very soon. Bacot and freshman point guard Caleb Love plan to work out together next week in St. Louis, and they're also recruiting Garrison Brooks—who has been holding regular virtual meetings of his teammates to keep everyone connected—to join them.
The Brooks-led sessions aren't the only team meetings that have taken place lately. Roy Williams recently convened a virtual session that included all players and coaches, with the group spending over an hour discussing recent events in America and the protests that have followed across the country.
It was a topic Bacot had already been giving significant thought, because Richmond has been an epicenter of protest activity. He's posted about equality on social media, but wants to make sure he continues to use his platform during the national conversation.
"It was a good meeting because everyone spoke," Bacot said. "Some of the players even challenged other players to use their platform more. We don't want to hide from it. We have a voice in the North Carolina community. Coach Williams and the other coaches made it clear they fully support us using that voice."
The summer lockdown hasn't deterred Armando Bacot from getting in workouts with a variety of Tar Heels.
This would traditionally be the time of year when current players are playing against Carolina basketball alumni virtually every day in afternoon and evening pickup games. But campus remains closed and basketball players don't return until July 6. Fortunately for Bacot, there's no shortage of good talent in his hometown of Richmond and the surrounding area. The rising sophomore has worked out several times with 2009 Carolina national champion Ed Davis, a fellow Richmond native.
"He's such a smart player, and there's so much I can learn from someone who has been in the NBA for ten seasons," Bacot said. "The first thing he told me was not to spend a lot of time trying to dunk everything. He said I need to put in the work on my touch and hooks and go-to moves rather than easy stuff like dunking. Ed told me he made a huge jump going into his sophomore year and I want to do the same thing."
Davis is right; he played quality minutes (almost 19 per game) on the loaded 2009 team but performed even better as a sophomore when his minutes jumped to 28 per game before suffering a wrist injury that effectively ended his Tar Heel career. Davis averaged 13.4 points and 9.6 rebounds per game as a sophomore.
Bacot averaged 9.6 points and 8.3 rebounds as a freshman and had some stellar performances—he had 23 points and 12 boards against Oregon in the Bahamas, a 15-point/12-rebound double-double against UCLA, and two double-doubles in the final three games of the season. But he also struggled through some typical freshman inconsistency, shooting just 45.9 percent from the floor and seeing his rebounding numbers go down against Atlantic Coast Conference opponents.
Although Bacot is working out in an effort to be prepared for his reintroduction to Jonas Sahratian next month, he also expects some mental adjustments entering his sophomore season to pay just as many dividends as his physical progress.
"College basketball is a rude awakening," he said. "At first, you laugh when the older guys tell you about how to take care of yourself and use your time. But now I know that it actually is important to go to sleep earlier, to get in the gym earlier rather than later to be prepared for practice, and to be more locked in. I want to have more attention to detail this season."
It will be Bacot as the wizened alum trying to pass on those lessons to the incoming freshman, and he'll have an opportunity to do that very soon. Bacot and freshman point guard Caleb Love plan to work out together next week in St. Louis, and they're also recruiting Garrison Brooks—who has been holding regular virtual meetings of his teammates to keep everyone connected—to join them.
The Brooks-led sessions aren't the only team meetings that have taken place lately. Roy Williams recently convened a virtual session that included all players and coaches, with the group spending over an hour discussing recent events in America and the protests that have followed across the country.
It was a topic Bacot had already been giving significant thought, because Richmond has been an epicenter of protest activity. He's posted about equality on social media, but wants to make sure he continues to use his platform during the national conversation.
"It was a good meeting because everyone spoke," Bacot said. "Some of the players even challenged other players to use their platform more. We don't want to hide from it. We have a voice in the North Carolina community. Coach Williams and the other coaches made it clear they fully support us using that voice."
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