For years Syracuse has been in need of a big man. Preferably one that isn’t built like a stick. The Orange have searched world wide for a quality center. But maybe, that guy was growing up in SU’s backyard all along. 
Quincy Ballard is a 7-foot 245 pound center from Syracuse, per 247Sports. Ballard plays high school ball down in Winston Salem, North Carolina at Quality Education Academy. In the past week Ballard has received offers from Florida State, Maryland, NC State, UNC-Ashville, Missouri State, Cincinnati, and Syracuse. 
Check out why the programs all want to add Ballard.
What’s crazy is that Ballard looks like he could put on even more weight. He almost looks… lanky. Judging from his tape he seems like a guy who knows his role. To stay in the paint, collecting rebounds and easy buckets. But he also steps outside of the paint to block midrange shots. In the video he’s easily the tallest player on the floor. Against ACC competition, that won’t be the case. While he’s heavier than SU’s bigs, he looks like he could put on even more weight.
Ballard doesn’t seem to have a very advanced offensive skill set, but he knows what he’s doing with the ball. He has sure hands and doesn’t take unnecessary dribbles. Instead, he pivots and goes straight-up to the hoop. It’s not like he would step into a game and immediately become a primary scoring option anyway. He’s raw but doesn’t seem to have any dire negative traits to his game.
The appeal to Syracuse is obvious. With his size and weight, there’s a good chance that Ballard would receive substantial playing time. If not this season, then next after Marek Dolezaj and Bourama Sidibe both graduate. We’ll see what happens on Saturday but this could be a big boost to next season’s squad, especially after missing out on a couple transfer targets.
