Should Texas basketball pursue brother of Timmy Allen, F Teddy Allen?

Among the more interesting recent NCAA Transfer Portal entrants that could be a target for head coach Chris Beard and the Texas basketball program is the former New Mexico State Aggies senior wing Teddy Allen. This well-traveled NCAA Tournament standout Allen put his name in the transfer portal after spending just one season at New Mexico State.

Teddy will now be seeking out his fourth destination at the Division I level, and his fifth landing spot in general (including JUCO) during his collegiate career to date. He’s also spent two seasons with the West Virginia Mountaineers and one with the Nebraska Cornhuskers. Teddy attended Western Nebraska Community College following the one season he spent playing for the Huskers.

Moreover, Teddy is an interesting potential transfer portal target for Beard and the Longhorns for a few reasons. But the first thing that comes to mind is the fact that he is the brother of the former Utah Utes two-time All-PAC-12 forward and returning super senior Timmy Allen.

It now looks like both of the Allen brothers are set to return to the collegiate level for one more season. After that, both are likely to run out of eligibility.

Yet, Teddy looks like he’s still planning on testing the waters in the NBA Draft this year before officially returning to college for one more season.

Texas basketball could find a worthy portal target in the brother of Timmy Allen and NMSU F Teddy Allen

If Teddy is set to return to college for one more season, that could present the Longhorns with a possible opportunity to get an immediate impact player out of the transfer portal. That is another reason why the potential fit between Texas and Teddy is intriguing.

Teddy could help fill a positional need for Texas in the wing/forward rotation ahead of next season. Considering that Texas is going to lose the likes of redshirt senior shooting guard/wing Andrew Jones, senior sharpshooting guard/wing Jase Febres, freshman forward Jaylon Tyson (transferred to Texas Tech in the midst of last season), and junior big man Tre Mitchell, Beard all of a sudden has more depth needs to fill in this part of the rotation.

Texas could definitely use the addition of a versatile two-way wing such as Teddy that can essentially play each position between the two and the four.

The high-level scoring ability of Teddy would also be a welcome addition for the Longhorns. Teddy averaged a whopping 20 points per game roughly last season on 44 percent shooting from the field and 34 percent from beyond the arc. And he only got better come postseason time.

Texas went through some lengthy scoring droughts in quite a few important games last season. Adding a true bucket-getter such as Teddy would help to reduce those lengthy scoring droughts that the Longhorns faced at critical points down the stretch last season.

It would also be big for Texas to get someone that has proved they can shine in the postseason spotlight such as Teddy. In four conference/NCAA Tournament games last season, Teddy averaged around 23 points per game, six rebounds, three assists, and one steal on 37 percent shooting from the field, 45 percent from beyond the arc, and 1.000 percent from the free-throw line.

It’s clear that, from a scoring perspective, Texas would obviously love to have Teddy in the mix ahead of next season.

But would it be a bad fit for Teddy along with his brother Timmy in this forward unit?

While Teddy and Timmy both stand at 6-foot-6 and play similar positions, they are still different players. Teddy is more of a natural scorer that likes to create his own shot and get buckets from all over the floor. He’s also a switchable and capable on-ball defender for really any position between the two and the four. In that regard, Teddy is a very versatile wing/forward on both ends of the floor.

We’ve seen Teddy go nuclear before in clutch moments being able to light up opposing defenses from really any area of the offensive floor.

Meanwhile, Timmy is more of a natural inside scorer that lives closer to the rim than Teddy. That is evident in the fact that Teddy took more than six three-point attempts per game last season while Timmy had fewer than 0.5.

Timmy is also more of an inside defender exclusively and a gritty rebounder on both ends of the floor. He’s just a player that is tough playing in the paint and a forward that brings a ton of energy to the frontcourt unit.

That is one aspect that Timmy and Teddy have in common, though, that they are both very gritty and effective rebounders. Both averaged north of six rebounds per game last season.

All in all, I could see Teddy being a solid fit for the Longhorns given the needs that have emerged in the wing/forward unit. Beard and the Longhorns need to add more pure scorers to this rotation, and Teddy would bring that to the table for them.

Teddy would be worthwhile for the Longhorns to pursue out of the transfer portal this offseason if he checks out in an evaluation from Beard and his staff.

Last season was definitely Teddy’s most decorated in his collegiate career to date. He took home the WAC Player of the Year honors along with the WAC Tournament MVP. Teddy also took the college hoops world by storm in the NCAA Tournament a couple of months ago with his insane 37-point performance in a New Mexico State upset win in the Round of 64 over the four-seed UConn Huskies.