Armando Bacot reveals what 'pissed off' North Carolina this season

The 2021-22 college basketball season has been a unique one for North Carolina – and that’s the best way to put it. The Tar Heels were never a bad team, but there were multiple times when they weren’t playing at the level they’ve been accustomed to for so long.

Despite losing some questionable regular-season games, North Carolina closed its slate on a high note and has made a memorable postseason run to the Final Four of the NCAA Tournament – which matches the Tar Heels up against longtime rival Duke on Saturday night with a spot in the national championship game on the line.

While North Carolina is now among the last four college basketball teams still playing at this point of the season, the Tar Heels are wanting their respect – especially after naysayers were calling them soft at times during the regular season. Armando Bacot spoke about that with reporters this week.

“When you said it, it definitely pissed us all off,” Bacot said. “I’m not going to lie. Yeah, it was something. It was kind of upsetting just because I didn’t think we were really a soft team; I think we just weren’t playing together. We were going through tough stretches and growing pains as a team. We have a lot of new faces, a lot of new players, new system we were implementing. … We were just really figuring it out.

“But I feel like even getting to this point we just showed how much farther we are from being a soft team. We’re probably actually the toughest team.”

No. 8 seeded North Carolina and No. 2 Duke are set to tipoff at 8:49 p.m. ET on Saturday at Caesars Superdome in New Orleans, with TBS carrying the national broadcast. The winner will face the No. 1 Kansas/No. 2 Villanova winner in Monday night’s national championship game.