Texas Basketball: Predicting next transfer addition after Jabari Rice

Fardaws Aimaq, F/C

One of the earliest names on the Longhorns’ radar in terms of transfer portal targets this offseason was the former Utah Valley and Mercer redshirt junior big man Fardaws Aimaq. This dynamic double-double machine is an important target for Beard and the Longhorns staff this offseason as they look to reconstruct the frontcourt unit to be more effective than this group was last season.

Texas has now made it through multiple rounds of finalist cuts in the race to land the commitment of Aimaq out of the portal. Recently, Aimaq narrowed his list down to five finalist schools, which included Texas. The other four are the Washington Huskies, Iowa Hawkeyes, Gonzaga, and Texas Tech.

Moreover, Aimaq is another transfer portal target that is hard to exactly get a gauge on for the Longhorns. I would say that I feel more confident in Texas’ chances to nab a commitment from Aimaq than I do Davis. But that is still mostly just an educated guess considering the limited information we’ve heard coming from each player in the portal in the last couple of weeks.

Texas would undoubtedly be getting a big-time addition to the frontcourt unit if they do wind up landing a commitment from Aimaq. He averaged around 19 points per game and 14 rebounds last season while shooting 49 percent from the field and 43.5 percent from beyond the arc.

That would help the Longhorns in multiple ways to upgrade the frontcourt unit and this starting five as a whole. Texas could use the help in terms of outside shooting and rebounding from Aimaq more than anything else, though.