Texas Tech big man Fardaws Aimaq plans to enter transfer portal

Texas Tech’s Fardaws Aimaq plans to enter the NCAA transfer portal, he told On3.

The 6-foot-11, 245-pound big man averaged 11.8 points and 8.3 rebounds per game in his lone season in Lubbock after battling an injury for the majority of the year.

Texas Tech parted ways with head coach Mark Adams on Wednesday evening. The news comes following a March 5 suspension of Adams, which was in relation to the use of an, “inappropriate, unacceptable, and racially insensitive comment,” that he made toward a player.

Aimaq was one of the top transfers in the portal last offseason, after averaging 18.9 points, 13.6 rebounds in the 2021-22 season at Utah Valley.

Aimaq transfer statement

Fardaws Aimaq provided the following statement to On3: “Thank you Texas Tech for everything. With the injury and missing 80% of the season, coming back was my goal and not being fully healthy all season was disappointing. Now with the coaching change and issues off the court with the staff, I will be entering the transfer portal.”

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.

Track transfer portal activity

While the NCAA transfer portal database is private, the On3 Network has streamlined the reporting process tracking player movement.

If you find yourself asking, ‘How can I track transfer portal activity?’ our well-established network of reporters and contacts across college athletics keeps you up to speed in several ways, from articles written about players as they enter and exit the transfer portal or find their new destination, to our social media channels, to the On3 Transfer Portal.