Texas Basketball: 5 elite transfer portal targets for Chris Beard

Tre Mitchell, PF/C

As one of the more highly-rated recruits to ever sign with the UMass Minutemen in the past two decades, standout sophomore 6-foot-9 and 245 pound big man Tre Mitchell is a big loss for their program. If this former blue chip recruit hailing out of Atlantic-10 Conference country does wind up taking his talents elsewhere out of the portal, UMass is about to lose maybe the best piece of their roster.

Mitchell is truly one of the best big men currently in the portal. Thus it makes a lot of sense for Beard and the Longhorns to at least test the waters and see what his interest level is for taking his talents to the Forty Acres. Mitchell could be able to replace some part of what the Longhorns could be losing with freshman power forward Greg Brown and breakthrough sophomore power forward Kai Jones entering the 2021 NBA Draft.

There aren’t many names in the portal at the moment that could fit into Texas’ frontcourt rotation and make an immediate impact quite like Mitchell. The 2019-20 A-10 Newcomer of the Year and two-time All-A-10 Team honoree had a tremendous showing with the Minutemen in the last two seasons.

In just over a dozen games played with UMass last season, Mitchell averaged 18.8 points per game, 7.2 rebounds, 2.2 assists, 1.2 steals, and 1.5 blocks. And he shot 51.9 percent from the field, 37.5 percent from beyond the arc, and 76.8 percent from the free-throw line.

There might not be a single potential transfer portal target for the Longhorns this offseason that I would be a bigger fan of than Mitchell. He’s a very well-rounded big man that can space the floor, cause turnovers, and protect the rim. That’s about as good as it gets in the modern game.