Cal Basketball: Mark Madsen Lands 1st Recruit - Ex-Utah Valley 6-11 Star Fardaws Aimaq

Aimaq was the WAC Player of the Year in 2021; played last season at Texas Tech. Cal forward Obinna Anyanwu enters transfer portal

New Cal basketball coach Mark Madsen wasted little time adding to his roster with the news Friday that 6-foot-11 senior Fardaws Aimaq — who played for Madsen at Utah Valley before spending last season at Texas Tech — has committed to play for the Golden Bears.

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Jeff Goodman of Stadium was first to report the news.

Aimaq, 24, is a significant commitment. He averaged 18.9 points and 13.6 rebounds at Utah Valley in 2021-22 and was among the nation’s leaders with 27 double-doubles. The year before he averaged 13.9 points and an NCAA-best 15.0 rebounds to earn Western Athletic Conference Player of the Year honors.

He was named WAC Defensive Player of the Year both seasons and was a two-time All-WAC first-team selection.

Fardaws Aimaq / Photo by Michael C. Johnson, USA Today

Aimaq is good enough that tested the NBA waters in 2021,doing pre-draft workouts for the Golden State Warriors, New York Knicks and Sacramento Kings and also participated in the NBA Pro Day in Chicago before opting to return to school.

Meanwhile, sophomore forward Obinna Anyanwu became the seventh player off the current Cal roster to enter his name into the transfer portal. The 6-7 native of San Diego averaged 1.6 points for the 3-29 Bears this season.

Cal is tied with Washington for the most players currently in the portal, with Anyanwu joining Joel Brown, Kuany Kuany, Lars Thiemann, Sam Alajiki, Marsalis Roberson and Jarred Hyder.

Aimaq said in an interview during his time at Utah Valley that he considered it a huge advantage playing under Madsen, especially given his background as an NBA player and assistant coach.

"He's obviously played my position at the highest level," Aimaq told the BC Sports Hub Pursuit of Excellence podcast. "He knows what it's like to be a pro. The way he comes at me every single day in practice. He's tough on me just due to the fact that he knows where my potential is and he knows where I can be. 

"That's one thing I truly appreciate, that's him not holding back. For him, it's not even about producing, it's about trying to get you to the next step possible. There's so many things you think yo know about basketball, then once you hear it from a pro, you're just like, `Wow!' You go do what he's telling you to do and it works."

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Aimaq played just 11 games for Texas Tech this past season, after recovering from a broken his foot he sustained during workouts in late September. He made his season debut on Jan. 14 and averaged 11.1 points and 7.9 rebounds while recording three double-doubles in the 11 games he played.

The power forward had 13 points and 18 rebounds for Texas Tech vs. Kansas and scored 19 points apiece against Oklahoma and TCU.

Playing for Madsen at Utah Valley, Aimaq posted 22 games of at least 20 points over two seasons, including a career-best 34 points vs. Pepperdine in 2021-22.

After the 2020-21 season, he earned the WAC’s top athletic honor by winning the Joe Kearney Award.

He began his career at Mercer, where he averaged 5.0 points and 5.3 rebounds in 2018-19. He transferred after one season and red-shirted in 2019-20.

Aimaq grew up in Vancouver, British Columbia, where he was a three-time city player of the year at Steveston-London Secondary School. His father is from Afghanistan, having escaped the country more than 30 years ago just as the Soviet Union also was exiting following a long and deadly conflict.

Cover photo of Fardaws Aimaq by Michael C. Johnson, USA Today

Follow Jeff Faraudo of Cal Sports Report on Twitter: @jefffaraudo