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Aimaq, UW Transfer Target and Game-Beater, Refutes He's Back in Portal

The 6-foot-11 Canadian big man has been injured and hasn't played this season.
Dan Raley|
Aimaq, UW Transfer Target and Game-Beater, Refutes He's Back in Portal
Aimaq, UW Transfer Target and Game-Beater, Refutes He's Back in Portal

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Washington Huskies

On a bitterly cold night almost exactly a year ago, then-Utah Valley big man Fardaws Aimaq entered a half-full Alaska Airlines Arena and had his way with the University of Washington basketball team, scoring 15 points and grabbing 15 rebounds in a 68-52 rout.

Four months later, he was in the transfer portal when he chose Texas Tech over Gonzaga, Iowa, Texas and Washington, handing the Huskies a second setback at his hands.

However, Lubbock has not been the answer for this highly decorated 6-foot-11 player from Richmond, British Columbia, who was named as the WAC Player of the Year in 2021 and the league's Defensive Player of the Year last winter.

Aimaq broke his left foot during a September workout. This week, in order, the Canadian had his cast removed, replaced with a boot, reported to be back in the portal and, on Friday, the coveted player refuted a flurry of reports that he was leaving the Big 12 school.

Well, now.

The obvious question is where does that leave Aimaq, who carries high value after averaging 18.9 points, 13.6 rebounds and 1.3 blocks per game?

Unconfirmed reports suggested that his previous suitors, including the UW, had even reached out to him to see if they could draw his interest, which seems highly questionable now.

Questions still abound: Will Aimaq play this season? Will he play for Texas Tech? Who started all of these fast-spreading rumors and why?

While Aimaq still doesn't appear fully recovered from his injury, Texas Tech earlier said the prized player would return this season with the suggestion that most likely would be in February for a stretch run.

For that matter, if he did change schools, it's still unclear whether Aimaq would be eligible immediately somewhere else.

The Huskies (8-3 overall, 1-1 Pac-12) clearly are in need of another big man after losing 6-foot-11 Oregon transfer Franck Kepnang to a knee injury earlier this month, but they probably shouldn't hold their breath on Aimaq.

Through three seasons and 83 games played at Mercer and Utah Valley, Aimaq has totaled 1,056 points, 918 rebounds and 99 blocks in his college career.

He topped the nation with 15 rebounds per game two years ago at Utah Valley, becoming the first player to average more than 15 in a season in more than 40 years. 

And Aimaq, as he said on Friday, is still a Texas Tech Red Raider.

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Dan Raley
DAN RALEY

Dan Raley has worked for the Seattle Post-Intelligencer, Atlanta Journal-Constitution and Fairbanks Daily News-Miner, as well as for MSN.com and Boeing, the latter as a global aerospace writer. His sportswriting career spans four decades and he's covered University of Washington football and basketball during much of that time. In a working capacity, he's been to the Super Bowl, the NBA Finals, the MLB playoffs, the Masters, the U.S. Open, the PGA Championship and countless Final Fours and bowl games.

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