Grading every portal addition for Texas so far this spring
The NCAA Transfer Portal has played a vital role in Texas basketball head coach Rodney Terry's roster building strategy in the last couple of years. In this day and age of NIL and the transfer portal in college sports, Terry and staff have utilized the availability of immediate impact transfers to their advantage to build potent rosters in the last couple of seasons.
Definitive portal grades for Texas basketball's five transfers
Terry and the Longhorns have won at least one NCAA Tournament game in his two postseasons as the head coach, with multiple high-impact starters from the portal. This past season, the Longhorns' top two scorers were both transfers from the last couple of years, Max Abmas and Dylan Disu, who accounted for over 40 percent of the team's points per game in conference play.
Since Texas lost all five starters due to exhausted eligibility or the portal, adding proven transfers who could be plugged into key roles in the rotation immediately was crucial to assemble a winning roster for next season.
Texas has addressed needs to replace backcourt and wing depth, frontcourt experience, and outside shooting threats with its five portal pickups this offseason.
Here's a look at the portal grades for each transfer commitment for the Longhorns so far this spring.
Jayson Kent, F
The first portal commit announced for the Longhorns in this transfer cycle was former Indiana State Sycamores redshirt junior forward Jayson Kent. The 6-foot-7 and 185-pound Oak Forest, IL, native was among the best two-way forwards in the Missouri Valley Conference. He one of only two transfer pick ups for the Longhorns this spring who was named to an all-defense team last season.
Kent broke out last season in a very specific role that head coach Josh Schertz carved out for him as an active screener and off-ball scorer. His high basketball IQ and off-ball awareness allowed Schertz to slice and dice defenses, with Kent getting to the basket on timely backdoor cuts, baseline runs, and open looks from distance.
The Longhorns ranked in the bottom five in the Big 12 last season in second-chance scoring and offensive rebounding percentage.
Texas is filling a vital depth need in the frontcourt while getting much-needed help on the glass and on the defensive end of the floor, with Kent as the projected starter at the four. Kent was a junkyard dog for the Sycamores on the offensive glass last season, ranking top five in the MVC in offensive rebounding (2.1 per game) and second-chance points (2.4 per game).
Terry lost his top offensive rebounder (Dillon Mitchell) and best bucket-getting big man (Disu) in the starting frontcourt. Kent knocks out two birds with one stone with his ability to score in the double figures, space the floor, and rebound the basketball on both ends of the floor.