By R.L. Bynum

Arizona’s Oumar Ballo, the top-ranked center in the transfer portal, was reportedly going to visit North Carolina but has committed to Indiana, according to multiple reports.

The 6–10, 245-pounder from Mali, who will be a graduate transfer, visited Indiana this week and canceled a planned trip to Louisville after that. He was reportedly expected to visit UNC next week before deciding to play for the Hoosiers.

A teammate of former UNC star guard Caleb Love with the Wildcats, he has career averages of 9.6 points, 6.6 rebounds and 1.1 blocks in 132 games. He earned first-team All-Pac 12 honors the last two seasons, and made the Pac-12 All-Defensive team last season.

Carolina is still pursuing Rutgers shot-blocker Clifford Omoruyi, who has UNC on his final list of 12 schools. The Tar Heels need a center after Bacot exhausted his eligibility, with Jalen Washington, Zayden High and Jae’Lyn Withers post players who could return.

Ballo has scored more than 20 points eight times in his career, including a career-high 30 points against Creighton on Nov. 23, 2022.

Ballo, who played his freshman season at Gonzaga after redshirting for the 2019–20 season, averaged 12.9 points, 10.1 rebounds and 1.3 blocks last season as Arizona won the final Pac 12 regular-season title and finished 27–9.

Ballo is the Arizona career field-goal percentage leader at 64.6% and is seventh in program history in blocks (134) and eighth in rebounds (830).

If there is a weakness for Ballo, it’s free-throw shooting. He is a career 56.4% shooter at the line and only made 49.5% of his attempts last season.

The Wildcats were ranked No. 1 for two weeks in December and was No. 12 in the final AP poll that was released on Tuesday.

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Key events, dates

Saturday, April 27, was the deadline for players to submit their names to the NBA draft (doesn’t apply to players who were seniors last season, even though they have another year of eligibility)
Wednesday — Deadline for players to enter the transfer portal
May 11–12 — NBA G League Elite Camp in Chicago
May 12–19 — NBA Combine in Chicago
May 17–19 — Evaluation for high school players at NCAA-certified events (EYBL in Indianapolis is one of those)
May 29 at 11:59 p.m. — Deadline to withdraw from NBA draft and maintain college eligibility
June 16 at 5 p.m. — Deadline to withdraw from the NBA draft

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UNC schedule so far

Nov. 8 — at Kansas (final AP rank No. 20; final NET ranking No. 19)
Nov. 22 — at Hawaii (final NET ranking No. 172)
Nov. 25–27 — Maui Invitational — Auburn (final AP rank No. 18; final NET ranking No. 5), Colorado (unranked; No. 25), Connecticut (No. 1; No. 2), Dayton (No. 24; No. 23), Iowa State (No. 8; No. 6), Memphis (unranked; No. 75), Michigan State (unranked; No. 24)
Dec. 14 — vs. La Salle (final NET ranking No. 195)
Likely in late November — Opponent TBA in ACC/SEC Challenge
December — vs. UCLA (final NET ranking No. 107) in CBS Sports Classic (date, location TBA)
December — vs. Florida (final NET ranking No. 29) in Jumpman Invitational at Charlotte’s Spectrum Center (date TBA)
— Games home and away against Duke, N.C. State and Pittsburgh
— Home games vs. Boston College, California, Georgia Tech, Miami, SMU, Stanford and Virginia
— Road games vs. Clemson, Florida State, Louisville, Notre Dame, Syracuse, Virginia Tech and Wake Forest
Note: 2024 NCAA tournament teams are in bold.

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Potential 2024-25 UNC roster

No.	Class	Player	Pos.	Hgt	Wgt
—	Freshman	James Brown (4 star)	5	6–8	225
—	Freshman	Ian Jackson (5 star)	2	6–4	180
—	Freshman	Drake Powell (5 star)	2	6–5	185
2	Soph.	Elliot Cadeau	PG	6–1	180
1	Soph.	Zayden High	4	6–9	225
—	Junior	Cade Tyson	3	6–7	203
13	Junior	Jalen Washington	5	6–10	230
0	Junior	Seth Trimble	2	6–3	195
5	Graduate	RJ Davis	PG	6–0	180
		Eligible for fifth season
24	Graduate	Jae’Lyn Withers	4	6–9	215
		Walk-ons eligible for 5th season
14	Graduate	Creighton Lebo	PG	6–1	180
22	Graduate	Rob Landry	2	6–4	190

Photo via @ArizonaMBB