Basketball at UNC doesn’t seem to be in the lead to sign former Arizona centre Oumar Ballo.
Reports of Oumar Ballo’s intended visit to Chapel Hill later this month to personally assess the UNC basketball programme firsthand emerged earlier this week. That suggests that the 7-foot, 260-pound transfer, who was a double-double machine as a senior at Arizona this past season, is of great interest to the Tar Heels.
Nevertheless, Indiana, one of Ballo’s other suitors, seems to have the best standing in the competition, based on the 247Sports Crystal Ball forecast that surfaced on Friday. The Hoosiers are predicted to win by national insider Travis Branham, who is among the industry’s most trustworthy predictors when it comes to high-profile matchups at the transfer portal and recruiting arena.
Even though Branham’s selection is still the sole one in Ballo’s Crystal Ball, take into account that his forecasts frequently come true a few days after the athlete makes his announcement—typically the same choice that Branham anticipated.
Following Armando Bacot’s five-year tenure as the program’s full-time starting centre, UNC basketball head coach Hubert Davis is looking to fill a vacancy down low, and Oumar Ballo isn’t the only highly regarded big man on Carolina’s transfer radar. Ballo, however, is ranked first in this cycle’s transfer rankings by 247Sports, not to mention first overall.
In the shortened 2020–21 season, the 21-year-old Mali native had a limited role off the bench for the Bulldogs after redshirting at Gonzaga in 2019–20. This experience does not affect anyone’s eligibility. After that, Ballo moved to Arizona, where over the course of the previous three seasons, he gradually became a fearsome interior force.
Ballo averaged 12.9 points, 10.1 rebounds, and 1.3 blocks per game while shooting 65.8 percent from the field for the 2023–24 Wildcats, who finished 27-9 and advanced to the Sweet 16 before falling to Clemson. Ballo played and started all 36 games for the team.
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