Armando Bacot played five years of college basketball at North Carolina. He never once tried to hang out with anyone at Duke— especially not the women in Durham!
The two-time All-ACC center/power forward roasted the Blue Devils while accusing their players of sneaking around Chapel Hill on a fairly frequent basis.
Bacot, who recently signed an Exhibit 10 contract with the Utah Jazz, recently joined AJ Richardson and Theo Pinson for a lengthy conversation on the Run Your Race podcast. Pinson is a former Tar Heel, so he knows the dynamics of the deep-rooted blue blood rivalry.
They got to talking about the relationship between players on both sides, which revealed a hilarious reality. Even though the two universities are only separated by 11 miles, Bacot said that the two teams mostly keep to themselves. There is very little crossover.
However, Pinson pushed back on that notion. He claims that Duke players would often show up on campus at North Carolina or in pop up town while he was in school from 2014 to 2018. They would frequent the clubs in Chapel Hill and “stayed in” the library at UNC.
Bacot did not disagree but offered a more recent perspective. The Blue Devils “get caught sneaking around,” but maybe not as much as they used to. Times have changed, perhaps.
Pinson and Bacot were in complete agreement on one thing: they never once flirted with Duke girls.
North Carolina went 6-5 against its biggest rival during the Armando Bacot era. The Tar Heels went 110-61 during his four years and reached the national championship in 2022.
Although last season’s Sweet 16 loss was a rather disappointing way to end his career, Bacot made more than $2 million in NIL money while in school. And regardless of how things went on the court, he was never caught sneaking around his rival’s campus!