With the college basketball season now at a close, the offseason is now upon us. With this comes the transfer portal and players who are searching for new opportunities at other schools for the next step in their young careers.
One of these players is the biggest name thus far in the portal is former Arizona Wildcats center Oumar Ballo. The big man is not new to the portal as he transferred to Tuscon from Gonzaga before the beginning of the 2021-22 season.
Ballo played in very few minutes with Gonzaga in his first college basketball season with just 6.3 a game. Nonetheless, he was named to the West Coast Conference all-freshman team which really showed his upside. He got a big time opportunity at Arizona to show the country what he could do at one of the premier college programs in the nation.
In his three seasons with the Wildcats, Ballo improved season by season in the major skills he needs as a low-post player. This included things like his scoring efficiency, rebounding, etc.
Ballo Put it Together for Arizona During the 2023-24 Season
In 2023, it all came together. Ballo’s output peaked for his scoring and rebounding as he averaged 12.9 points and combined that with 10.1 rebounds a game. His efforts all season helped Arizona be the highest scoring offense in the Pac-12 and have the best scoring margin out of any team in the conference as well. The team ranked as the 11th most efficient offense in the country according to the Kenpom.
Ballo also ranked as the second best rebounder in the conference behind Colorado’s Fardaws Aimaq. During the season, he had 21 games with 10+ rebounds this included two of the three games Arizona had in the NCAA tournament and a 9-game streak during conference play. He finishes his Arizona career as the second highest defensive rebounder and second highest offensive rebounder in the program’s history.
His scoring was even better with just five games with his point total in the single digits. This is good value considering he took right around 7.8 shot attempts a game.
The defense from Ballo was also put on display in 2023. He averaged 1.3 blocks and 0.9 steals a game fitting into Arizona’s tenacious defense they had. He had 11 games with multiple blocks and this included a season-high four blocks in the Wildcats’ first round tournament game against Long Beach State. He also had 9 games with multiple steals. His efforts helped Arizona rank as a top ten defense in the country according to the Kenpom.
Ballo was also named to the Pac-12’s All-Defenisve team which was the first time he has done that.
Overall, what he did helped Arizona to a 27-9 record, a Pac-12 regular season title, and a sweet sixteen appearance which was the program’s 18th appearance in the regional semi-final round in its history.
The Next Chapter
Ballo was thankful for his time at Arizona making it known in a post on X.
When it is all said and done, Ballo leaves Tuscon as a two-time all-Pac 12 player and at the top of many Arizona records in the book. Many options are open for him. Teams would love to have a big, towering 7-foot, 260 pound center to add to their lineup. This makes him the most valuable transfer portal player.
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