Texas’ loss to Purdue in the second round of the NCAA tournament a few weeks ago was the epitome of what the Longhorns struggled with all season.
On the offensive side of the ball, Texas often settled for midrange jumpers or threes and didn’t have a post presence that could hang down low. Tre Mitchell was the closest thing the Longhorns had to that, but he took a personal leave of absence and left the team.
Defensively, the Longhorns were exposed by three point shooting and teams that had a skilled big man. We saw it at the beginning of the season when Drew Timme of Gonzaga scored 37 points, and it continued to plague Texas the rest of the way. Purdue big men Zach Edey and Trevion Williams combined for 33 points en route to sending the Longhorns packing.
Although Texas’ 2023 class features two McDonald’s All-Americans and another four-star player, it does not include a big man. This means Beard and the Longhorns will have to raid the portal again. On the bright side, they recently received good news that they are in the mix for the best center in the portal.
ESPN’s Jeff Borzello reported that Utah Valley’s Fardaws Aimaq has his sights set on a handful of programs and the Longhorns are one of the lucky schools. Aimaq is the No. 4 overall player in the transfer portal and is considering Kentucky, Gonzaga, Texas Tech, Arizona and Texas among a few others.
Here is 247Sports’ breakdown of what Aimaq brings to the table.