UNC Basketball: Dick Vitale names his ACC Player of the Year

Armando Bacot has put together an incredible junior season for the UNC basketball program and he’s on a shortlist of ACC Player of the Year hopefuls.

College basketball’s regular season slate is wrapping up and that brings us to one of the most fun and exciting times of the year: awards season.

It could end up being very exciting for fans of the North Carolina Tar Heels, as all signs seem to be pointing toward one of their favorite mainstays being the favorite for the Atlantic Coast Conference’s most prestigious individual honor.

Although he’s had his ups and downs this season, including a particular shooting slump midway through conference play, Armando Bacot has had a sensational junior season in Chapel Hill, and one that obviously warrants consideration for ACC Player of the Year.

There’s been a lot of buzz about Bacot and his case for being named the top player in the league over the past few weeks and ESPN’s Dick Vitale added his two cents on Wednesday morning when he named his Player of the Year selection for each conference.

Along with picking Wake Forest’s Steve Forbes as ACC Coach of the Year and Duke’s Paolo Banchero as ACC Freshman of the Year, Vitale went with Bacot for ACC Player of the Year.

And Vitale isn’t the only one that feels like Bacot has been the league’s most outstanding performer this season, as a number of analysts and color commentators have echoed similar sentiments in recent weeks.

There’s no doubt that Bacot is deserving of the honor, despite the fact that the media wanted to gift wrap the award for Banchero before a single game was played this season. Bacot is averaging 16.4 points and 12.7 rebounds per game while shooting a team-high 58.5 percent from the floor. He’s racked up 23 double-doubles this season — tied for first in program history — and had at least 10 rebounds on 24 occasions, the most ever in a single season in UNC basketball history.

Bacot is also one of the main reasons that North Carolina has won 22 games this season and remains in the hunt for an NCAA Tournament at-large bid. The Tar Heels are clearly at their best when they’re able to play inside-out basketball and use the low post dominance of Bacot to open up their much-improved perimeter shooting.

There’s still one game remaining in the regular season, and it’s against Banchero and the Blue Devils, but Bacot is on the cusp of winning ACC Player of the Year and seeing his jersey in the Smith Center rafters for years to come.

Check back with Keeping It Heel for all the latest on Armando Bacot’s bid for ACC Player of the Year and everything on the UNC basketball program.