Texas Basketball: 3 best Longhorns NBA Draft prospects

With the postseason having officially arrived for the Texas basketball program with the start of the Big Dance this week, there isn’t much time left for the top NBA Draft prospects on this roster to prove their worth to scouts at the next level. And there aren’t many better opportunities for potential NBA Draft prospects to show what they can do on the national stage than by standing out during the NCAA Tournament.

March Madness will give some of the top Longhorns prospects in the 2023 NBA Draft class a national stage to show what they can do starting in the Round of 64 on March 16. The two-seed Texas will take on the 15-seed Colgate Raiders on the evening of March 16 to determine who will move onto the Round of 32 in the Midwest Region to face the winner of the 10-seed Penn State Nittany Lions and seven-seed Texas A&M Aggies.

Moreover, since Texas has a roster made up of so many upperclassmen this year, there are plenty of players that will be looking to show that they are worth some looks from NBA Draft scouts heading into the offseason.

Top Texas basketball NBA Draft prospects heading into the NCAA Tournament

With that in mind, here’s a look at the three best NBA Draft prospects on the Longhorns’ roster entering the NCAA Tournament.

Dylan Disu, PF/C

This list isn’t technically all Longhorns players that are likely to declare for the 2023 NBA Draft. It is comprised of the players on this Longhorns roster that are the best NBA prospects in our opinion as it stands entering the NCAA Tournament.

One Longhorns player that definitely has some next-level tools that could see his stock rise in the eyes of pro scouts if he can continue to stay healthy is senior big man Dylan Disu. The 6-foot-9 and 225-pound Disu is a physically-gifted two-way big man that brings a lot of versatility and adaptability to the table.

Unfortunately, though, Disu’s growth as an NBA Draft prospect was stunted in his second season at Vanderbilt when he suffered a season-ending knee injury during the 2020-21 campaign. He was leading the SEC in rebounding prior to injuring his knee that season, while also boasting career-best numbers in terms of points per game, three-point shooting percentage, and blocks per game.

During the 2022-23 season, Disu has started to find some of the bounce and two-way efficiency that he brought to the table prior to that knee injury he suffered at Vanderbilt.

When healthy, Disu’s vertical ability, length, and shot-making ability from multiple levels of the offensive halfcourt will be the biggest plusses in the eyes of NBA scouts. He’s able to score from all three levels, and he’s vastly improved his efficiency from the charity stripe since he arrived at Texas prior to the start of last season.

The consistency of Disu’s shot-making from deep will be a question he must answer before he takes his talents to the next level. He did shoot around 37 percent from deep during his final season at Vanderbilt at a clip of around 1.5 attempts per game. And he’s shot around 33 percent from deep this season at Texas.

Three-point shooting ability is something he has displayed before. But one more season of at least shooting the three-ball at an average to above-average level compared to other major conference bigs is necessary to really prove he can at least pose a threat as a floor-spacing big at the next level.

Moreover, there’s no questioning Disu’s finishing ability from the mid-range and around the rim. He led the Big 12 in two-point field goal percentage this season, at a clip of nearly 65 percent.

More specifically, Disu ranks in the 95th percentile or higher in the last 10 games in terms of his field goal percentage from the mid-range and in the paint.

The defensive skill set that Disu brings to the table namely surrounds his rim protection and rebounding. While Disu isn’t a high-volume rebounder at Texas, he does box out well and rarely gets beat when he goes up to snag the ball off the boards.

The length, leaping ability, and timing that Disu possesses allow him to be an adept rim protector. Disu ranked in the top five in the Big 12 in each of the last two seasons in terms of block percentage (around nine percent in the last two years combined).

But maybe the biggest strength that Disu has in his game that would translate immediately to the next level is his ability to run the floor in transition as a big man. Disu is one of the sharpest and most effective big men in the Big 12 in transition (and the fastbreak) this season.

I do think that Disu probably needs another year at Texas to prove that he is back on track to becoming one of the most versatile rim-protecting and floor-spacing big men in the country. He has the physical tools and shooting stroke to fulfill that potential of being one of the best two-way bigs among the major conference programs, and the 2023-24 campaign will be his opportunity to finally put it all together on the court.

In terms of Disu’s fit at the next level, he would probably do best with a team that likes to run the floor fast and needs a versatile big man that has the potential to effectively space the floor.