One year after winning Karl Malone Award, Gonzaga’s Drew Timme named to power forward watch list

The Karl Malone Award will have a chance to return to Spokane for a second consecutive year.

Gonzaga’s Drew Timme, the recipient of the 2021 award given to college basketball’s top power forward, was one of 20 players named to the 2022 Karl Malone Award watch list.

Timme was the eighth player to win the Karl Malone Award since its inception in 2014-15 and he’d become the first to claim the honor in back-to-back seasons. Other previous winners include Dayton’s Obi Toppin, Duke’s Zion Williamson, Arizona’s Deandre Ayton, Baylor’s Jonathan Motley, Iowa State’s Georges Niang and Louisville’s Montrezl Harrell.

The Gonzaga forward returns for his junior season after helping the Bulldogs reach the program’s second national championship game last spring, scoring 100 points in a four-game stretch at the NCAA Tournament en route to all-tournament team honors. Timme led the West Coast Conference in scoring, at 19 points per game, and also had the league’s top field-goal percentage, at 65.5%.

Timme started in all 31 games and had 20 points or more in a team-high 14 games. He reached a career high with 30 points against Oklahoma in the second round of the NCAA Tournament.

Others named to the Karl Malone watch list are Arizona’s Azoulas Tubelis, Auburn’s Jabari Smith, Colorado State’s David Roddy, Duke’s Paolo Banchero, Indiana’s Trayce Jackson-Davis, Louisiana Tech’s Kenneth Lofton Jr., Loyola Marymount’s Eli Scott, LSU’s Darius Days, Maryland’s Donta Scott, Memphis’ DeAndre Williams, North Carolina’s Dawson Garcia, Ohio State’s E.J. Lidell, Oregon’s Quincy Guerrier, Purdue’s Trevion Williams, Tennessee’s John Fulkerson, Texas’ Tre Mitchell, USC’s Isaiah Mobley, Virginia’s Jayden Garner and Virginia Tech’s Keve Aluma.