Syracuse men’s basketball to host transfer Quincy Ballard

With the departures of Frank Anselem and Cole Swider, the Syracuse Orange men’s basketball team has room to add to the 2022-23 roster. There’s a need for the Orange to find a backup center to Jesse Edwards and it appears one of the players they are looking at is Florida State Seminoles transfer Quincy Ballard.

The 7-footer is leaving Tallahassee after two seasons and according to Syracuse.com he’ll be taking an official visit home to meet with the Syracuse coaching staff. The Orange are very familiar with the Syracuse native as they were one of Ballard’s finalists when he chose to head to Florida State.

In two seasons for Leonard Hamilton, Ballard played in 36 games and averaged 1.1 points and 0.9 rebounds. He did shoot 70% from the field in limited attempts and added 17 blocks. While he’s not going to be a big addition to the offense he could provide rim protection in the middle of the zone or back line on a full-court press.

The pursuit of Ballard mirrors last year’s transfer portal work for Syracuse when the Orange grabbed former targets Swider and Symir Torrence. While Ballard does fit a need we’ll have to see if he’s the top priority or if Syracuse is looking elsewhere for players who could provide a lift to the front court.