Bacot in contention for top NCAA center
Fred Jeter | 3/14/2024, 6 p.m.
The nation’s top college basketball center might be from Richmond.
Ex-Richmonder Armando Bacot is among five finalists for the Kareem Abdul-Jabbar Award, which goes to college basketball’s top center.
The 6-foot-11, University of North Carolina graduate student is joined on the finalist list by Purdue’s Zach Edey, Hunter Dickinson of Kansas, Creighton’s Ryan Kalkbrenner and D.J. Hall of Clemson.
The 7-foot-4 Edey is seeking to become the second back-to-back winner, following Iowa’s Luka Garza in 2020 and ’21.
Bacot played his first three years of high school basketball at Trinity Episcopal in South Richmond, leading the Titans to the 2017 Virginia Independent Schools crown.
He finished his senior season at IMG Academy in Florida.
Entering this week’s ACC tournament, he has 2,239 career points, 1,640 rebounds and 209 blocked shots. He trails only Tyler Hansbrough (2,872) and Phil Ford (2,290) on UNC’s all-time points list. Bacot is UNC’s all-time rebounder.
Bacot’s brother, seventh-grader King Bacot, helped Manchester Middle School to the Chesterfield County Middle Schools title earlier this winter.
The 6-foot-2 King Bacot is ranked first or near first on numerous recruiting services for the Class of 2029.
