Childs Needs To Come Back To BYU Humble, Ready To Work
May 29, 2019, 9:57 PM
Jeff Allred, Deseret News
PROVO, Utah – The BYU basketball program got some great news when Yoeli Childs made his announcement that he would return to school and play out his senior season.
Childs made the announcement on his Twitter, issuing a video that shared his excitement about coming back to Provo for one more year.
It came as a bit of a surprise as most had believed that Childs had played his final game in a BYU uniform after announcing his decision to enter the NBA Draft the day after longtime head coach Dave Rose stepped down from his post.
Childs went through some aspects of the pre-draft process by working out for a couple of NBA teams but decided in the end to return to Provo.
For BYU, it’s a big deal as the Cougars look to bounce back from a disappointing season.
To KSL TV’s Dave McCann, one of the world’s biggest BYU fans who also works on Cougar sports broadcasts for BYUtv, Childs’ decision was likely a result of not being invited to the NBA Combine, among other factors.
“Well first and foremost, he wasn’t invited anywhere,” said McCann in a guest appearance on KSL’s Unrivaled. “They only take so few players in the draft, if you’re not even invited back to the Combine, that says everything about ‘hey you know what, we’re not interested.’”
— Yoeli Childs (@yochilds22) May 30, 2019
Had Childs gone through with it, it wouldn’t have been the first time that BYU lost a star player to early entry in the draft. McCann cited Eric Mika, who entered the draft after his sophomore year at BYU and according to McCann, was sure he’d be drafted. He wasn’t and to McCann, it was a mistake on Mika’s part.
Calling Childs new BYU head coach Mark Pope’s biggest recruit yet, McCann broke down what he’ll need to do to improve his draft stock in his senior year.
“The key to getting Yoeli back at BYU is if Yoeli comes back humble and ready to work,” said McCann.
— Mark Pope (@CoachMarkPope) May 30, 2019
McCann also believes that last year Childs didn’t have the humility necessary to improve and have an awareness of where he stood in the minds of pro scouts.
It was evident in BYU’s final game of the 2018-19 season when after receiving a technical foul late in the blowout loss to San Diego in the West Coast Conference tournament, Childs had to be dragged back to the bench to support his teammates as reported by McCann.
This time around, things will hopefully be different. In Childs words, it’s time to make magic happen.
