Texas Basketball: 5 reasons the Longhorns win a national title this season

Balance and depth to get through the entire season

It’s not just the forward depth that will help the Longhorns potentially reach new heights this season. Texas has a frontcourt unit as a whole that looks to be special for the 2021-22 campaign. Doing so much good work in the transfer portal is largely what led to Texas building out such a deep and talented frontcourt unit heading into this season.

The two most notable additions among the big men that Beard and the Longhorns signed out of the transfer portal are the former UMass Minutemen star sophomore center Tre Mitchell and Vanderbilt Commodores standout sophomore power forward Dylan Disu.

It will be interesting to see who starts at the four for Beard early on in the regular season. Disu is a good choice, as is Allen. This really depends on how much size and inside presence Beard wants in his starting unit at the outset of this season.

Nonetheless, there is a seriously impressive amount of versatility and skill in this frontcourt unit. Both Mitchell and Disu are capable floor spacers that can also hit the glass hard and score on the inside. Last season, Mitchell shot around 38 percent from beyond the arc and made around 68 percent of his tries within four feet of the rim.

Meanwhile, Disu shot a much improved 37 percent from beyond the arc with Vandy last season and hit his looks from within four feet of the rim at a clip around 73 percent. Both Mitchell and Disu are going to be solid pieces in this frontcourt unit that will help to elevate the contender status of this team.

This is not to mention the depth and skill that Texas has in the frontcourt unit with some other switchable players such as Allen, Bishop, and Tyson.