Texas Basketball: 3 best big men available in the portal early this offseason

Fardaws Aimaq, F

One of the most high-profile transfer portal targets for Beard and the Longhorns in the early stages of the offseason is the former Utah Valley and Mercer Bears star redshirt junior forward Fardaws Aimaq. Texas did well to target Aimaq pretty soon after his name surfaced in the transfer portal.

Texas is part of a long list of notable college hoops programs targeting Aimaq out of the portal early this offseason. But the Longhorns got good news on the morning of April 14 with Aimaq announcing his top five finalist schools. Texas made the cut in this round of finalist schools for Aimaq.

The other four are the Gonzaga Bulldogs, Iowa Hawkeyes, Washington Huskies, and Texas Tech.

Moreover, quite a few of the gaps Beard and the Longhorns are looking to fill in the frontcourt this offseason would be improved if Aimaq were to land on the Forty Acres out of the portal. Aimaq is a very gifted scorer that can do damage from almost all over the halfcourt (shot 49 percent from the field and around 44 percent from beyond the arc during the 2021-22 campaign). He’s also a very effective rebounder that averaged nearly 14 boards per game last season.

Aimaq has to be considered the top transfer portal target at this point of the offseason for the Longhorns. He checks a lot of the boxes in terms of what Beard and the Longhorns are seeking out of the portal for frontcourt help.