Upon the Tar Heels being the first preseason No. 1 team to miss the Big Dance, two North Carolina stars will return in 2023.
The following season will see RJ Davis and Armando Bacot return following a poor 2022–2023 campaign.
North Carolina has gained a lot of momentum early in the offseason, despite making headlines for being the first preseason #1 team in college basketball history to miss the NCAA Tournament.The team’s top assist provider and leading rebounder, respectively, RJ Davis and Armando Bacot, declared this week that they plan to run it back in 2023–2024.
With a straightforward tweet using the hashtag #seniorszn, Davis on Friday declared his return to Chapel Hill, North Carolina, for a senior season, following Bacot, who had done so earlier this week with a mention to Perry Ellis. With a rather cryptic yet straightforward social media message honoring Davis, UNC appeared to essentially confirm the news.
Bacot finished first team all-ACC and led the ACC with 10.4 rebounds per game. In the ACC postseason awards, Davis received an honorable mention nomination despite setting career highs in points (16.1), rebounds (5.1), and steals (1.1). Davis ended with the second-most minutes played in the season and led the club in 3-point shooting percentage.
After a poor season, third-year coach Hubert Davis now has a solid basis upon which to create a team. However, Carolina’s highest scorer, Caleb Love, has not yet stated if he would return for another season. During a disappointing season that concluded with UNC turning down an NIT invitation following their loss to Virginia in the ACC Tournament quarterfinals, Bacot and Davis were two of the few shining lights.
Not a pleasant sensation. Not the goals we set out to achieve this year,” Davis remarked following the season-ending defeat to UVa. “It’s definitely frustrating, disappointing.”
With overwhelming authority, North Carolina earned the preseason No. 1 ranking. They returned four starters from a team that ended as the national runner-up to champion Kansas a year ago. But things rapidly fell apart; the Tar Heels never fully recovered, becoming the only preseason #1 team to record five losses in a single season. UNC finished with an overall record of 20-13 and an ACC record of 11-9.
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According to a report, Armando Bacot will return to North Carolina in 2023–2024.
According to Stadium’s Jeff Goodman, forward Armando Bacot of North Carolina will reportedly rejoin the Tar Heels for the 2023–24 basketball season.
In a disappointing 22–23 season that saw the Tar Heels miss the men’s NCAA tournament for the first time since 2010 and the program decide not to participate in the National Invitation Tournament, Bacot concluded his senior year averaging 15.9 points and 10.4 rebounds.
Bacot said to Goodman, “I’m using my last year of eligibility.” “I thought it was the best course of action for my future.”
Despite having already completed four seasons of competition at UNC, Bacot is still eligible for a fifth since the NCAA decided that an athlete’s eligibility is not affected by the 2020–21 season, which was played in the midst of the COVID-19 pandemic.
Next season, with Bacot back, the third-team AP All-America selection will have a chance to break the all-time NCAA rebounding record. Bacot surpassed Billy Cunningham in December of his senior year to own the record for the most double-figure rebound games in UNC basketball history.
Over his four years in college, Bacot has amassed 1,335 career rebounds. Kenneth Faried of Morehead State set the NCAA Division I record in the contemporary period (after 1985) with 1,673.
Despite being ranked #1 in the country going into the season, North Carolina fell short of expectations, finishing 20–13 overall and 11–9 in the Atlantic Coast Conference.
