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

Capital One Arena, Washington
Tuesday’s first-round results
No. 12 seed Notre Dame 84, No. 13 seed Georgia Tech 80
No. 10 seed N.C. State 94, No. 15 seed Louisville 85
No. 11 seed Boston College 81, No. 14 seed Miami 65
Wednesday’s second-round results
No. 9 seed Florida State 86, No. 8 seed Virginia Tech 76
No. 5 seed Wake Forest 72, Notre Dame 59
N.C. State 83, No. 7 seed Syracuse 65
Boston College 76, No. 6 seed Clemson 55
Thursday’s quarterfinals
No. 1 seed North Carolina 92, Florida State 67
No. 4 seed Pittsburgh 81, Wake Forest 69
N.C. State 74, No. 2 seed Duke 69
No. 3 seed Virginia 66, Boston College 60, OT
Friday’s semifinals
North Carolina 72, Pittsburgh 65
N.C. State 72, Virginia 65, OT
Saturday’s championship
N.C. State 84, North Carolina 76

Date	Month/day	Score	Opponent/event (current ranks)	Record
	October
27	Friday	W, 117–53	vs. St. Augustine’s	Exhibition
	November
6	Monday	W, 86–70	vs. Radford	1–0
12	Sunday	W, 90–68	vs. Lehigh	2–0
17	Friday	W, 77–52	vs. UC Riverside	3–0
			Battle 4 Atlantis in the Bahamas
22	Wednesday	W, 91–69	Northern Iowa	4–0
23	Thursday	L, 83–81, OT	Villanova	4–1
24	Friday	W, 87–72	Arkansas	5–1
			ACC/SEC Men’s Challenge
29	Wednesday	W, 100–92	vs. No. 6 Tennessee	6–1
	December
2	Saturday	W, 78–70	vs. Florida State	7–1, 1–0 ACC
			Jimmy V Classic in New York
5	Tuesday	L, 87–67	No. `1` Connecticut	7–2
			CBS Sports Classic in Atlanta
16	Saturday	L, 87–83	No. 12 Kentucky	7–3
			Jumpman Invitational in Charlotte
20	Wednesday	W, 81–69	Oklahoma	8–3
			—————————
29	Friday	W, 105–60	vs. Charleston Southern	9–3
	January
2	Tuesday	W, 70–57	at Pittsburgh	10–3, 2–0 ACC
6	Saturday	W, 65–55	at Clemson	11–3, 3–0 ACC
10	Wednesday	W, 67–54	at N.C. State	12–3, 4–0 ACC
13	Saturday	W, 103–67	vs. Syracuse	13–3, 5–0 ACC
17	Wednesday	W, 86–70	vs. Louisville	14–3, 6–0 ACC
20	Saturday	W, 76–66	vs. Boston College	15–3, 7–0 ACC
22	Monday	W, 85–64	vs. Wake Forest	16–3, 8–0 ACC
27	Saturday	W, 75–68	at Florida State	17–3, 9–0 ACC
30	Tuesday	L, 74–73	at Georgia Tech	17–4, 9–1 ACC
	February
3	Saturday	W, 93–84	vs. No. 13 Duke	18–4, 10–1 ACC
6	Tuesday	L, 80–76	vs. Clemson	18–5, 10–2 ACC
10	Saturday	W, 75–72	at Miami	19–5, 11–2 ACC
13	Tuesday	L, 86–79	at Syracuse	19–6, 11–3 ACC
17	Saturday	W, 96–81	vs. Virginia Tech	20–6, 12–3 ACC
24	Saturday	W, 54–44	at Virginia	21–6, 13–3 ACC
26	Monday	W, 75–71	vs. Miami	22–6, 14–3 ACC
	March
2	Saturday	W, 79–70	vs. N.C. State	23–6, 15–3 ACC
5	Tuesday	W, 84–51	vs. Notre Dame	24–6, 16–3 ACC
9	Saturday	W, 84–79	at No. 13 Duke	25–6, 17–3 ACC
			ACC tournament Washington
14	Thursday	W, 92–67	Quarterfinals: Florida State	26–6
15	Friday	W, 72–65	Semifinals: Pittsburgh	27–6
16	Saturday	L, 84–76	Final: N.C. State	27–7
			NCAA tournament
21	Thursday	W, 90–62	First round in Charlotte: Wagner	28–7
23	Saturday	W, 85–69	Second round in Charlotte: Michigan State	29–7
28	Thursday	L, 89–87	Sweet 16 in Los Angeles: No. 19 Alabama	29–8