Yoeli Childs Named To Karl Malone Award Watch List

PROVO, Utah – For the second year in a row, BYU basketball senior Yoeli Childs has been named to the watch list named after Utah Jazz legend Karl Malone.

The Karl Malone Award is given to the best power forward in college basketball and is presented by the Naismith Basketball Hall of Fame.

For the second-straight season, the Naismith Memorial Basketball Hall of Fame has named @yochilds22 to its preseason watch list for the 2020 Karl Malone Power Forward of the Year Award.#BYUhoops #GoCougs pic.twitter.com/lnzJfY3Yog

— BYU Basketball (@BYUbasketball) October 17, 2019

As local sports fans in the state of Utah would remember, Karl Malone is one of the best power forwards the sport of basketball has ever seen.

Like Malone did for so many years as a member of the Utah Jazz, Childs returns to BYU as the Cougars leading scorer and rebounder. Last season, Childs averaged 21.2 points and 9.7 rebounds while posting 17 double-doubles in 2018-19.

Childs was one of only 20 players named to the Karl Malone Award watch list and is one of four players to play for a program outside of the Power 6 conferences.

The 20 player watch list will be narrowed down to 10 in Mid-February. In March, the five finalists will be named and the winner of the Malone Award will be announced on Friday, April 10, 2020, in Los Angeles, California.

Childs will miss the first nine games of this season due to a suspension handed down from the NCAA due to a paperwork issue and the timing of when he hired an agent. The BYU star will make his debut this season on December 4th, at rival Utah.

The Malone Award debuted in 2015 and some of the previous winners include the last two No. 1 NBA Draft picks in Zion Williamson from Duke and DeAndre Ayton from Arizona.

Mitch Harper is a BYU Insider for sports.ksl.com and host of the Cougar Tracks Podcast and Cougar Sports Saturday (Saturday from 12-3 pm) on KSL Newsradio. Follow him on Twitter: @Mitch_Harper.