SPRINGFIELD, Mass. – University of Dayton forward DaRon Homes II has been named to the 2023 Karl Malone Power Forward of the Year Watch List. Holmes, who last season was the Atlantic 10 Rookie of the Year, Second Team All-Atlantic 10 and the only freshman named to the A-10's All-Defensive Team is one of 20 top college players named to the watch list.
Holmes is just the second Dayton player on the Malone Watch List. Obi Toppin, who won the award after the 2019-20 season, was the first.
A 6-foot-10 sophomore forward from Goodyear, Ariz., Holmes was second nationally in field goal percentage (.649, 183-282) in 2021-22. He was first nationally among freshmen (and sixth overall) in dunks with 81 in 2021-22. The next two freshmen were Memphis' Jalen Duren (70) and Gonzaga's Chet Holmgren (57).
For the Flyers, he led the team in scoring (12.8) and was second in rebounding (6.1). He set the Flyer single-season block record in 21 games, breaking "Big Steve" McElvene's record of 55 that was set in 32 games. Holmes now has 81 blocked shots. He was named UD's White Allen Co-MVP, sharing the honor with
Toumani Camara and
Malachi Smith.
Holmes averaged 20.0 ppg. over his last five games of the 2021-22 season (vs. A-10 regular season champion Davidson, two A-10 tournament games and two NIT games).
Some of the student-athletes on the Karl Malone Watch List include Jayden Gardner of Virginia, Trace Jackson-Davis of Indiana, Graham Ike of Wyoming, Justyn Mutts of Virginia Tech, Pete Nance of North Carolina, and Drew Timme of Gonzaga.
Holmes is the only Atlantic 10 player on the list.
The award is presented by the Naismith Memorial Basketball Hall of Fame and named after 11-time All-NBA First Team selection Karl Malone. It is part of the Hall of Fame's "Starting Five" awards program. The other awards on the men's side are the Bob Cousy Point Guard Award, the Jerry West Shooting Guard Award, the Julius Erving Small Forward Award and the Kareem Abdul-Jabbar Center Award. All five greats are members of the Naismith Hall of Fame.
Interestingly, the last three Karl Malone Award winners were sophomores when they won the award – Obi Toppin in 2020, Gonzaga's Drew Timme in 2021 and Iowa's Keegan Murray in 2022.
Fans are encouraged to participate in Fan Voting, presented by Dell Technologies, in each of the three rounds beginning Friday, October 28. In late January, the watch list of 20 players for the 2022 Karl Malone Power Forward of the Year Award will be narrowed to 10 and then in late February to just five. In March the five finalists will be presented to Malone and the Hall of Fame's selection committee where a winner will be selected.
The winner of the 2023 Karl Malone Award will be presented on a date to be determined, along with the other four members of the Men's Starting Five. Additional awards being presented include the Bob Cousy Award (Point Guard), Jerry West Award (Shooting Guard), Julius Erving Award (Small Forward) and the Kareem Abdul-Jabbar Award (Center), in addition to the Women's Starting Five.
Starting Five Fan Voting presented by Dell Technologies will go live on Friday, October 18 at 1 p.m. ET. Click
here to #VoteForDeuce.
For more information on the 2023 Karl Malone Award and the latest updates, visit hoophallawards.com and follow @hoophall and #MaloneAward on Twitter and Instagram.
