On3: Cal basketball lands a top 10 transfer class, headlined by two top-40 transfers

Mark Madsen hit the ground running in Berkeley in his first weeks on the job, landing a squad that will have the Bears competing.

Meet your new Cal basketball team! Photo via Cal Athletics

Cal men’s basketball has been in a dark place.

But 2023-24 is looking like they have something cooking.

After a few months on the job, Mark Madsen has hit the transfer portal with ferocity, and the Bears have replenished themselves with a new team capable of competing in the Pac-12.

• On3 ranked Cal 8th overall, trailing only Penn State, West Virginia, Wake Forest, South Carolina, Missouri, Nebraska and LSU. Fardaws Aimaq (30th) and Jaylon Tyson (47th) were listed as four-star transfers. Cal’s net talent in terms of players transferring in versus out ranked a net of +16, so the Bears are definitely being viewed as more talented.

• 247Sports positioned Cal at 19th, with both Aimaq (38th best transfer) and Tyson (48th) standing out as the biggest gains.

• The Resource Nexus ranked the top transfers based on efficiency. Of the 436 players listed, all five of Cal’s new transfers made the top 150 and landed a net rating of +2.4 or higher, as Jaylon Tyson (26th), Fardaws Aimaq (31st), Keonte Kennedy (94th), Jalen Cone (133rd), and Michael Meadows (148th) all were major adds on the floor for their teams.

• Evan Miya ranked Tyson as the 7th best prospect in the portal, with a projected BPR of 3.97.

CBS placed Tyson as the 9th best transfer in this class and Aimaq at 28th.

Tyson is the epitome of an all-around player and one of the most underrated two-way wings in the sport after averaging 10.7 points and 6.1 rebounds on 53.8% 2-point shooting and 40.2% 3-point shooting during the 2022-23 season. He also ranked as Texas Tech's best defender, according to evanmiya.com, while collecting 1.4 steals per contest.

…

Aimaq is the former WAC Player of the Year at Utah Vally who transferred to Texas Tech last season but played in just 11 games because of injuries. In that limited action, the 6-foot-11 center averaged 11.1 points and 7.9 rebounds, which demonstrated that he can be productive in a rugged league. Aimaq is a serviceable rim protector and has shown the ability to step out and make 3-pointers over the past two seasons

ESPN had Tyson at 26th and Aimaq at 33rd ($).

Cal should have one remaining slot available on their roster if they choose to use it, so the portalling might not be done yet.