Counting Down Cal's Top-50 Transfer Athletes: No. 30 Fardaws Aimaq

The transfer portal era in college athletics seems like it’s been with us forever. Likewise, most fans can recall less turbulent times when transfers happened, they simply didn’t look like a stampede to the 1849 California Gold Rush.

We thought it was time to rank the best transfers Cal teams have attracted, most of them in recent seasons but also including a few OGs from yesteryear.

We limited our ranking to transfers from four-year colleges.

Here is the next athlete in our countdown:

30. Fardaws Aimaq

Sport: Basketball

Arrival year at Cal: 2023-24

Previous schools: Mercer (5.0 points, 5.3 rebounds in 2018-19), Utah Valley (16.9 points, 14.2 rebounds in 2020-21 & 2021-22, including NCAA-leading 15.0 rebounds in his first year), Texas Tech (11.1 points, 7.9 rebounds in 11 games in 2022-23).

Contributions at Cal:

— Mark Madsen, who coached Aimaq at Utah Valley, boasted that the big man could well be the best rebounder in the world. And while that certainly was a debatable claim, the 6-foot-11 senior center was adept at securing missed shots. In his two seasons at Utah Valley, Aimaq totaled 11 outings with at least 18 rebounds, including a high game of 25.

— In his lone season with the Bears, Aimaq corralled 351 rebounds, third-most in program history and the most by a Cal player in 52 years, since Ansley Truitt set the Cal record with 382 in 1971-72. Aimaq’s per-game average of 11.0 rebounds led the Pac-12 and ranks No. 7 on the Bears’ all-time list.

— He also posted 14.5 points per game and assembled 19 double-doubles, which puts him at No. 3 among Cal players all-time.

— Born and raised in Canada and the son of Afghan refugees, Aimaq finished his college career with 1,641 points and 1,356 rebounds.

Standout performance: On Feb. 7, 2024, Aimaq scored 15 points and grabbed 20 rebounds in an overtime victory vs. USC. Dating back to 1982, he became just the third Cal player to reach the 20-rebound plateau, joining Leon Powe and Ivan Rabb.

Impact on his team: Teaming with Texas Tech transfer Jaylon Tyson, Aimaq helped Madsen’s inaugural Cal team generate a 10-win improvement over the previous season. The Bears posted a 13-19 overall record and jumped from 2-18 in the Pac-12 to 9-11.

Previously on our list:

No. 31: Chris Richards

No. 32: Thomas Kilgore

No. 33: Liam Bell

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