By Jason Erickson

OREM—Utah Valley men's basketball player Fardaws Aimaq has officially withdrawn his name from the upcoming NBA Draft and will continue his education at Utah Valley University and play for the Wolverines this upcoming season. Aimaq announced his decision on a live stream with Sean Paul (writer/podcaster for MakingTheMadness.com) on Wednesday.
 
"To put it simple man, I'm coming back," said Aimaq on the Sean Paul live stream. "I'm coming back to school! I'm ready to get to work. The feedback and everything I got was amazing. I killed every workout that I did. I impressed a lot of teams. I did a lot of little things that led to the success in the workouts. I got the feedback that I needed. I'm coming back for my junior year and I'm ready to dominate this conference and am ready to be one of the best players in the country."  
Aimaq impressed NBA scouts at numerous workouts and at the NBA Pro Day in Chicago this past month. He also had personal workouts with the New York Knicks and Golden State Warriors.
 
"The biggest thing I learned from the (NBA Draft) process was how to be a pro," said Aimaq. "There is a lot more that goes into it than just the basketball side of things. There is a lot of off-the-court stuff. Understanding all that early on was big for myself. Simple little things like what you eat, what you watch, what you look at. All those things add up to how you do on the court. I didn't ever really understand that. You go from city to city and workout to workout and I've learned that you have to keep your mind and body right. To be a pro, you really have to do all the little things."
 
Aimaq made the most of his first year in the WAC, earning WAC Men's Basketball Player of the Year and WAC Men's Basketball Defensive Player of the Year honors after helping lead Utah Valley to a share of the WAC regular-season title. The native of Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada was named Riley Wallace Player of the Year as the top transfer after beginning his collegiate career at Mercer University in Georgia. 
 
He also recently earned the WAC's top honor, taking the league's Joe Kearney Award, which is given to the top male and female student-athlete in the WAC.
 
Standing 6-foot-11, Aimaq led the nation in rebounding at 15.0 boards per game, becoming the first player in 40 years to average 15 or more rebounds per game. He also averaged 13.9 points per game while shooting .485 from the field. In addition to being named First Team All-WAC, he was named to the WAC All-Defensive Team, WAC All-Newcomwer Team, NACBA All-District Team and Lefty Driesell Defensive All-America Team.