By R.L. Bynum

WASHINGTON — Armando Bacot a three- and-D guy? The first part is debatable but there’s no doubting the last part.

After making the ACC’s All-Defensive Team and sinking a pair of 3-pointers on senior night, he’s telling his teammates and the coaches that he is.

They aren’t really buying it, but the graduate center is just kidding about it anyway. We think.

“He’s been going around saying, ‘I’m a 3-and-D guy,’ ” UNC coach Hubert Davis said ahead of the No. 4 Tar Heels’ noon ACC tournament quarterfinal game at Capital One Arena on Thursday against Florida State. “I’d just like him to be a D guy.”

RJ Davis, UNC’s best perimeter shooter, doesn’t expect any plays to be added to set up Bacot to shoot from the perimeter anytime soon.

“He refers himself [as 3-and-D] with a smile,” RJ Davis said. “He does have the ability to knock the 3 down; I think you saw that against Notre Dame. I said, ‘if you’re open just shoot it,’ especially top of the key. The top of the key is his spot. I have confidence in him shooting that 3.”

Bacot said that there are no “pick-and-pop” plays for him but that “he might get a couple up this week.”

While he’s kidding about becoming a shooting force from the outside, he’s serious about playing defense and happy that ACC voters recognized him for that improvement.

“When I told him that [he made the All-Defensive Team], he had a bigger smile on his face than any other achievement or award that he got,” Coach Davis said. “And I think that meant a lot to him that people noticed that there was an area in his game that he really worked on and as improved.

“From a defensive standpoint, he’s been fantastic for us this year,” he said. “His ability to be able to guard guards out on the perimeter? In large part, our defense has improved because he has improved and it’s just a huge benefit.”

Bacot said he has worked hard to become proficient at many of the Tar Heels’ pro-style defensive techniques.

“That was one of the main things I really wanted to show I can do,” Bacot said. “For me, just in my position, I can defend and do different stuff, especially with how we play defense,” noting he’s gotten better at icing screens and switching out. “To be [on the All-Defense Team] and the top three in the Defensive Player of the Year voting was huge for me.”

During his fifth college season, Bacot realized the importance of fully immersing himself in the scouting report about the opponent.

“I know how teams play now and, it being my fifth year, I’ve got that advantage of playing against them so many times now, I really understand it,” Bacot said. “Just getting older and understanding basketball at a higher level now allowed me to be able to defend different guys and know what they like to do.”

He’s also picked up on the defensive techniques of some NBA players.

“I always felt like on switches and stuff, I could really move my feet,” Bacot said. “I felt good in those positions. But watching film, looking at guys like Marc Gasol and different people like that, the way they defend screens and different things like that.”

Bacot’s improvement and quickness on defense has made Coach Davis’ change this season to do more switching work. It doesn’t seem to matter how quick a much smaller guard is; Bacot has been able to get the job done for the most part.

“His ability to guard smaller guards and have a defensive impact has been huge,” RJ Davis said. “His presence at the rim, blocking shots. Mondo has been great all year around. I know a lot of people always talk about the offense, but his defensive presence has been huge for this team.”

Bacot credited Assistant Coach Pat Sullivan with helping him and the team improve on defense.

“Defense is one of our main focuses, more this year,” Bacot said. “A lot of one-on-one drills and Coach Sully giving me different pointers.”

Bacot said that he knows on defense if, for example, if he goes high on a screen, he can have an impact on the play knowing that a teammate such as Harrison Ingram will be there to defend his man.

“I think, just overall as a team, the trust level — that’s been huge for us this year,” Bacot said. “I feel like in years back — specifically last year — in screens, guys were kind of scared to sell out, in a sense, to help their teammate because we weren’t sure our teammate would help us.”

RJ Davis agreed that trust has gone a long way toward improving the team’s defense.

“When Mondo goes ahead and blocks a shot, someone’s gonna be there to box out his man,” RJ Davis said. “It’s not really relying on, ‘let me guard my man.’ Moreso playing team defense. We progress with our defensive transitions, being in the gaps and just having that good help-side defense. That’s been great.”

It isn’t clear where the trust level is for Coach Davis and the rest of the team when Bacot has an open shot from outside the arc.

But they trust Bacot on defense, and Bacot trusts his teammates.

ACC tournament

Spectrum Center | Charlotte
Tuesday’s first round
No. 12 Notre Dame 55, No. 13 Pittsburgh 54
No. 15 California 82, No. 10 Virginia Tech 73, 2 OTs
No. 14 Syracuse 66, No. 11 Florida State 62
Wednesday’s second round
No. 8 Georgia Tech 66, No. 9 Virginia 60
No. 5 North Carolina 76, Notre Dame 56
No. 7 Stanford 78, California 73
No. 6 SMU 73, Syracuse 53
Thursday’s quarterfinals
No. 1 (and No. 1-ranked) Duke 78, Georgia Tech 70
North Carolina 68, No. 4 Wake Forest 59
No. 2 (and No. 13-ranked) Louisville 75, Stanford 73
No. 3 (and No. 10-ranked) Clemson 57, SMU 54
Friday’s semifinals
Duke 72, North Carolina 71
Louisville 76, Clemson 73
Saturday’s championship
Duke 73, Louisville 62

Date	Month/day	Time	Opponent/event (current ranks)	TV/ record
	October
24	Friday	L, 78–76	vs. No. 10 BYU in SLC	Exhib.
29	Wednesday	W, 95–53	vs. Winston-Salem St.	Exhib.
	November
3	Monday	W, 94–54	vs. Central Arkansas	1–0
7	Friday	W, 87–74	vs. No. 17 Kansas	2–0
11	Tuesday	W, 89–74	vs. Radford	3–0
14	Friday	W, 97–53	vs. N.C. Central	4–0
18	Tuesday	W, 73–61	vs. Navy	5–0
			Fort Myers Tip-Off
25	Tuesday	W, 85–70	vs. St. Bonaventure	6–0
27	Thursday	L, 74–58	vs. No. 9 Michigan State	6–1
	December		ACC/SEC Men’s Challenge
2	Tuesday	W, 67–64	at Kentucky	7–1
			—————————
7	Sunday	W, 81–61	vs. Georgetown	8–1
13	Saturday	W, 80–62	vs. USC Upstate	9–1
16	Tuesday	W, 77–58	vs. East Tennessee State	10–1
			CBS Sports Classic in Atlanta
20	Saturday	3 p.m.	vs. Ohio State	CBS
			—————————
22	Monday	8 p.m.	vs. East Carolina	ACCN
30	Tuesday	7 p.m.	vs. Florida State	ESPN2
	January
3	Saturday	2:15	at SMU	The CW
10	Saturday	6 p.m.	vs. Wake Forest	ACCN
14	Wednesday	9 p.m.	at Stanford	ACCN
17	Saturday	4 p.m.	at California	ACCN
21	Wednesday	7 p.m.	vs. Notre Dame	ESPN2
24	Saturday	2 or 2:30	at No. 23 Virginia	ESPN or ESPNU
31	Saturday	2 p.m.	at Georgia Tech	ACCN
	February
2	Monday	7 p.m.	vs. Syracuse	ESPN
7	Saturday	6:30	vs. No. 3 Duke	ESPN
10	Tuesday	7 p.m.	at Miami	ESPN or ESPN2
14	Saturday	2 p.m.	vs. Pittsburgh	ESPN
17	Tuesday	7 p.m.	at N.C. State	ESPN or ESPN2
21	Saturday	1 p.m.	at Syracuse	ABC
23	Monday	7 p.m.	vs. No. 11 Louisville	ESPN
28	Saturday	6:30 or 8:30	vs. Virginia Tech	ESPN or ESPN2
	March
3	Tuesday	7 p.m.	vs. Clemson	ESPN or ESPN2
7	Saturday	6:30	at No. 3 Duke	ESPN
10–14	Tues.-Sat.	ACC tournament	Spectrum Center, Charlotte