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North Carolina lands five-star 2019 big man Armando Bacot

ACC Basketball Tournament - Quarterfinals

NEW YORK, NY - MARCH 09: Head coach Roy Williams of the North Carolina Tar Heels in action against the Miami (Fl) Hurricanes during the Quarterfinals of the ACC Basketball Tournament at the Barclays Center on March 9, 2017 in New York City. (Photo by Al Bello/Getty Images)

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North Carolina added a key piece to its Class of 2019 recruiting haul on Thursday as five-star big man Armando Bacot pledged to the Tar Heels.

One of North Carolina’s main recruiting targets over the past year, the 6-foot-10 Bacot gives the Tar Heels an old-school big man and an immediate double-double threat. Although Bacot won’t blow away fans with athleticism or leaping ability, he’s a fundamentally-sound big man with good hands and feet as he throws a number of post moves at the opposing defense. With North Carolina having success with big men like Bacot in the past -- most recently with Kennedy Meeks -- it means they should know how to utilize Bacot’s assets right away.

Landing a five-star prospect like Bacot is also a huge step for North Carolina’s recruiting efforts as it gives them much-needed stability. This is a class where head coach Roy Williams and his staff are attempting to make serious moves with the rest of the bluebloods of college basketball after years of being outside the top ten in team recruiting rankings.

North Carolina recruiting took its biggest downturn with the Class of 2017 -- as the school was in the midst of an academic scandal. That year saw the Tar Heels take a handful of three-star prospects to plug holes on the interior. The program only landed one five-star prospect in that class -- Jalek Felton. He already transferred out after one season.

But after a strong Class of 2018 recruiting haul that featured five-star prospects like forward Nassir Little and guard Coby White, followed by this solid start in the Class of 2019, and it appears as though North Carolina is picking up right where they left off before the academic scandal shook things up.

Now that Bacot is already in the fold, North Carolina can focus its recruiting efforts on trying to land elite talent to go along with four-star guard Jeremiah Francis -- another Tar Heel pledge in 2019. North Carolina recently received an unofficial visit from five-star point guard Cole Anthony in late July. Australian native and five-star shooting guard Josh Green also put the Tar Heels in his top list of six schools earlier this week. And the Tar Heels also continue to target other talented interior players like Vernon Carey, Jeremiah Robinson-Earl and Matthew Hurt. Four-star guard Tre Mann is scheduled to take an official visit to Chapel Hill in September.

If North Carolina continues to add quality pieces to the Class of 2019, then they might have the program’s first top-ten recruiting class (based on 247Sports composite team rankings) since 2014. While Duke and Kentucky have dominated recruiting headlines with their yearly one-and-done wars, the Tar Heels have quietly continued to win games and make Final Four appearances.

The North Carolina Class of 2014 recruiting group included players like Joel Berry, Theo Pinson and Justin Jackson. That trio was a huge reason for the program’s recent on-court success. After a brief lull, North Carolina fans are hoping that Tar Heel recruiting wins in 2018 and 2019 can form the foundation of the school’s next potential run at a title.