NCAA Basketball: 10 best players from state of Virginia of last decade

2. Armando Bacot – North Carolina

Considering by many sites a 5-star recruit from the class of 2019, Bacot has certainly come onto the scene in recent years. He was recruited to North Carolina and played under Roy Williams for the first few years of his career. Last season, Bacot’s junior year saw the program transition to new coach Hubert Davis, but Bacot certainly wasn’t complaining with the kind of season that he and the program experienced.

Bacot has been a key cog in the frontcourt for each of his first three seasons in Chapel Hill, though his numbers have largely increased as time has gone on. He had decent contributions in the pandemic-shortened season as a freshman before averaging 12.3 points and 7.8 rebounds a game in year two. Under his new head coach, Bacot has been a huge part of the offensive and defensive attack. Not only did Bacot average 16.3 points and 13.1 rebounds this season, but he helped guide the Tar Heels all the way to the national championship game, totaling 92 points and 99 rebounds in those six contests.

Bacot developed into one of the nation’s best rebounders and was named First Team All-ACC for last season’s success. He finished second in the ACC in field goal percentage, fifth in blocks, and was ranked highly by many of the various metrics and miscellaneous statistics. But it’s not just analytics, you could see Bacot’s importance during that run to the title game. He’ll be back next season along with most of his North Carolina squad, with Bacot certainly an early favorite to be named national player of the year.