Texas Tech's Fardaws Aimaq announces transfer destination

Texas Tech transfer Fardaws Aimaq has committed to Cal, he told On3.

The 6-foot-11, 245-pound center averaged 11.1 points and 7.9 rebounds this season for the Red Raiders, who finished the season second to last in the Big 12, with an overall record of 16-16. Aimaq only appeared in 11 games this season due to an injury.

Aimaq, a native of Vancouver, began his college career at Mercer, where he averaged just five points during his freshman year. He then transferred to Utah Valley where he spent the next two seasons. After averaging 18.9 points and 13.6 rebounds for Utah Valley during the 2021-22 season, Aimaq entered his name into the transfer portal. He was one of the top prospects of the 2022 cycle, eventually landing in Lubbock and Texas Tech.

Fardaws Aimaq’s final stop will be at Cal-Berkely and will play for his former head coach, Mark Madsen. Madsen was the head coach at Utah Valley from 2019-2023. He’s also spent time at Stanford as an assistant, as well as the Los Angleles Lakers, as both a player and assistant. Madsen is a two-time NBA champion (2001, 2002).

The California Golden Bears finished the 2022-23 season last in the Pac-12, with a conference record of 2-18 and an overall record of 3-29.

To keep up with the latest players on the move, check out On3’s Transfer Portal wire. 

Fardaw Aimaq is headed to Cal, transfer portal background information

The NCAA Transfer Portal, which covers every NCAA sport at the Division I, II and III levels, is a private database with names of student-athletes who wish to transfer. It is not accessible to the public.

The process of entering the portal is done through a school’s compliance office. Once a player provides written notification of an intent to transfer, the office enters the player’s name in the database and everything is off and running. The compliance office has 48 hours to comply with the player’s request and that request cannot be refused.

Once a player’s name shows up in the portal, other schools can contact the player. Players can change their minds at any point and withdraw from the portal. However, once a player enters the portal, the current scholarship no longer has to be honored. In other words, if a player enters the portal but decides to stay, the school is not obligated to provide a scholarship anymore.

The database is a normal database, sortable by a variety of topics, including (of course) sport and name. A player’s individual entry includes basic details such as contact info, whether the player was on scholarship and whether the player is transferring as a graduate student.

A player can ask that a “do not contact” tag be placed on the report. In those instances, the players don’t want to be contacted by schools unless they’ve initiated the communication.

The portal has been around since Oct. 15, 2018 and the new calendar cycle within the portal begins each August. For example, the 2021-22 cycle started Aug. 1. During the 2020-21 cycle, 2,626 FBS football players entered the transfer portal (including walk-ons). That comes after 1,681 entered during the 2019-20 cycle and 1,709 during the abbreviated 2018-19 cycle. In comparison, 1,833 Division I basketball players entered the portal during the 2020-21 cycle after totals of 1,020 in 2019-20 and 1,063 in 2018-19.