UNC Basketball: Armando Bacot Named ACC Player of the Week

For the second time in the past three weeks, UNC basketball star big man Armando Bacot is the ACC Player of the Week.

Armando Bacot had a historic weekend in Chapel Hill, and the honors have continued into this week, as he was named the ACC Player of the Week for the third time this season.

Bacot’s big week began on Tuesday night, as he led the Tar Heels in points (20) and rebounds (16) during Carolina’s eight point win over Boston College.

Saturday was also a monster day for the Carolina big man, as he put up 23 points and 18 boards in UNC’s win over NC State.  Bacot became the North Carolina basketball program’s all-time leader in double-doubles and rebounds with that performance.

With the conference season nearly half-way over, it appears that Bacot is a clear favorite to win ACC Player of the Year at this point.  The Richmond, Virginia native leads the conference in rebounds per game (11.6) and is third in points per game (17.8), despite the fact that these averages are hurt by Bacot playing under two minutes due to an injury at UVA.

The Tar Heels are 6-3 in the ACC, but two of those three losses came on the road in games where Bacot played just over a minute combined.  It is hard to argue that any player in the ACC impacts his team’s performance as much as Armando does.

While there is still a ton of basketball to be played, the ACC POY Award appears to be Bacot’s to lose at this point.  The better question, in my opinion, is whether or not he will end up being a consensus first-team All-American.

Bacot and the Tar Heels are back in action tomorrow night against Syracuse.

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