UNC Basketball: Dick Vitale names Armando Bacot to All-American team

UNC basketball junior center Armando Bacot has been named an All-American by longtime ESPN college basketball analyst Dick Vitale.

The North Carolina Tar Heels finished their 2021-22 regular-season slate on Saturday night, beating the No. 4 Duke Blue Devils at Cameron Indoor Stadium by a score of 94-81.

While earning a 3-seed in this week’s ACC Tournament and simultaneously spoiling Duke head coach Mike Krzyzewski’s final home game, UNC junior big man Armando Bacot strengthened his case for ACC Player of the Year, as well as a number of other honors that are bound to come his way over the next several days.

One of those, albeit a bit of an informal one but important nonetheless, is the spot he earned on longtime ESPN college hoops personality Dick Vitale’s All Rolls Royce team. Vitale named his first and second-team “PTPers” on Sunday — a list that essentially equates to first and second-team All-Americans — and Bacot landed on the latter.

Alongside Bacot on the second team is Duke’s Paolo Banchero, Villanova’s Collin Gillespie, Iowa’s Keegan Murray, and Auburn’s Jabari Smith. The first team consists of Illinois’ Cofi Cockburn, Kentucky’s Oscar Tshiebwe, Gonzaga’s Drew Timme, Kansas’ Ochai Agbaji, and Wisconsin’s Johnny Davis.

Bacot finished the season with averages of 16.6 points, 12.5 rebounds, 1.5 assists, and 1.7 blocks per game. He shot 59.5 percent from the floor, racked up a UNC record-tying 23 double-doubles, and pulled down at least 10 rebounds on 24 occasions this season.

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