Texas basketball gets more frontcourt depth back with Dylan Disu returning

As this offseason moves along, head coach Chris Beard and the Texas basketball program continue to see the projected roster for next season start to take shape. Texas got huge news out of the NCAA Transfer Portal last weekend with the commitment of the reigning Big 12 Newcomer of the Year and former Iowa State Cyclones stud freshman guard Tyrese Hunter.

Beard and the Longhorns also got another important piece of the roster back for next season with some news that dropped on the afternoon of May 31. A report from Jon Rothstein on Twitter on May 31 indicates that the rising senior power forward and former Vanderbilt Commodore Dylan Disu will be withdrawing from the 2022 NBA Draft pool and coming back to Texas for the 2022-23 season.

This is good news for Texas as they need frontcourt depth restored at this point of the offseason. Texas is returning some of the frontcourt pieces from last season’s team. But they didn’t sign any true big men in the 2022 recruiting class and don’t have any bigs added out of the transfer portal so far this spring.

Texas basketball returns some valuable and familiar frontcourt depth with Dylan Disu

Thus, getting a talented player such as Disu back for next season is big. That gives Beard and the Longhorns key upperclassmen back in the frontcourt unit for next season such as senior forward Brock Cunningham, redshirt senior forward Timmy Allen, redshirt senior forward Christian Bishop, and now Disu.

Add in someone such as the elite five-star Montverde Academy forward and incoming freshman Dillon Mitchell to this mix (someone that can play at the three or the four), and we’re starting to see a very formidable rotation emerge for the Longhorns ahead of next season. Texas just needs to get the right pieces to round out the frontcourt unit for the rest of the offseason and this rotation top-to-bottom should be set.

If Disu can return to the form we saw him at during the 2020-21 season with Vanderbilt, prior to that devastating knee injury he suffered, he should be able to challenge for a spot in the starting unit. But that is a tall task for a player that still looked a ways from regaining his old form in Disu with Texas last season.

In peak form, Disu is one of the most efficient rebounders and floor-spacing big men in the Big 12. He’s also a solid rim protector when he’s got more bounce in his game. But we only saw flashes of that version of Disu last season as he averaged around four points per game, three rebounds, and one block while shooting 46.6 percent from the field and 13.3 percent from beyond the arc.

Disu needs to find his shooting stroke from the outside and get some of that vertical ability back in his game in order to really get back to the form we saw him in at Vandy a couple of seasons ago.

Moreover, even if Disu doesn’t fully return to the form he was at prior to his knee injury a couple of years ago with Vandy, he is still a key piece to the depth in this frontcourt unit. Disu still adds some valuable size, rebounding, rim protection, and inside-to-midrange scoring ability in his current form.

Disu will return to the Longhorns with a few years of eligibility still remaining thanks to the COVID-19 redshirt year. But the 2022-23 season will be a critical campaign for him as he continues to try to work his way back from the knee injury he suffered a couple of seasons ago.