UNC basketball center Armando Bacot (Jaylynn Nash-USA TODAY Sports)
Expert: UNC Basketball Boasts Nation's Premier 'Super Senior'
Armando Bacot is absent from the first round of 2024 mock drafts. Potential one-and-done point guard Elliot Cadeau is the only 2023-24 UNC basketball talent who often appears there.
But regarding past production at the college level and potential to manufacture double-doubles and the likes again this season, there are few safer bets than Bacot as the 23-year-old big man gears up for his fifth campaign with the Tar Heels.
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This week, NCAA college hoops expert Andy Katz ranked the top 10 "super seniors" (those using their extra year stemming from the NCAA's decision not to count the truncated 2020-21 season against any player's eligibility).
And Katz has the 6-foot-11, 240-pound Bacot, already a three-time All-ACC performer, four-year full-time starter, and UNC's all-time leader in rebounds (1,335) in double-doubles (68), at the top:
He's the only ACC player on Katz's list.
Bacot and senior point guard RJ Davis, a preseason candidate for the Bob Cousy Award, are the only two returning UNC basketball starters and the only two scholarship players who were on the 2021-22 Tar Heel squad that reached the national championship game.
They're on a mission to bounce back from a discouraging 2022-23 campaign (20-13, 11-9 ACC, no NCAA Tournament invite) with the help of Cadeau and a handful of other rookies and transfers who figure to comprise the regular rotation under third-year head coach Hubert Davis.
Their regular season gets underway on Nov. 6 with a home game against Radford.
Stay tuned to All Tar Heels on SI.com for more UNC basketball news.
