PROVO — Yoeli Childs has high expectations for this year’s BYU basketball team.
The former Cougars star, who is preparing for the NBA draft in October, has watched coach Mark Pope and his staff assemble an impressive roster during the past several months.
“It’s scary saying these kinds of things because you don’t want to put too much pressure on the guys. But I think they can handle it. They have the potential to be the best team that’s ever played at BYU. I know that’s crazy,” Childs said. “I know that’s high praise. But they have the potential to do that. If they can come together and have that flow offensively where they play for each other, that’s how they’ll be able to realize their potential.
“If they can sacrifice individual goals and agendas and just play for each other and not care about anything else, they’re going to be pretty hard to beat,” he continued. “They have length, they have depth. They’ll be one of the best defensive teams in the country. Matt Haarms puts a lid on the rim. Brandon (Averette) and Alex (Barcello) can really pressure outside and they have a ton of length on the wings and depth in the post.
“I think they have every tool that they need to be successful. It’s going to be a matter of if they’ll be willing to not care who scores, not care who ends up in the articles and just care about playing for each other.”
Last year, as a senior, Childs averaged 22.2 points and nine rebounds per game. He also became the only Cougar in school history to record at least 2,000 points (2,031) and 1,000 rebounds (1,053) in a career. Childs finished No. 6 all time at BYU in scoring and No. 1 in rebounding.
Childs was sidelined for the first nine games of the 2019-20 season due to a controversial NCAA suspension. Then, in January, he suffered a finger injury that forced him to the bench for four games. But Childs overcame the adversity that beset him throughout the season.
“It was nuts. It was so much fun, even with the trials and the hard things that I faced and the team faced, every single thing made us grow closer together,” he said of his senior season. “It was the funnest team I’ve ever been a part of.”
The Cougars ended up posting a 24-8 record and a No. 18 national ranking. BYU was projected to receive a No. 6 seed in the NCAA Tournament before it was canceled due to the coronavirus pandemic.
Childs, like fellow Cougar TJ Haws, never played in the NCAA Tournament during their careers. But Childs is focusing on the future.
“It’s one of those things that you obviously wish that you could have done it. It’s a dream that I’ve always had, and a dream that my team had, especially some of the guys that never have played in one, like me and TJ,” he said. “We were talking about that all of the time — how exciting it was going to be to get that opportunity.
“I think about it all the time, how amazing it was to play here. It makes me so sad that I’m done. I wish I could run it back and go four more. I’m just grateful.” — Yoeli Childs
“It’s going to be something forever that’s a what-if. But at the end of the day, you can’t hang onto stuff like that. You have to live in the present and move on.”
How would Childs sum up his career?
“I think about it all the time, how amazing it was to play here. It makes me so sad that I’m done. I wish I could run it back and go four more. I’m just grateful,” he said. “It was so much fun playing for the best fans in the world, playing with the best teammates out there, two legendary head coaches and a ton of amazing assistant coaches. I really couldn’t have made it up.
“When I was 18 years old and committed to BYU, and I could write a script for all the amazing things that would happen and all the different people that would touch my life and all the amazing coaches I had and my experience with the fan base, I don’t think I could have written how amazing it would be,” he continued. “Obviously, there are things that I wish would have happened. I wish we could have played in the NCAA Tournament this last year. But I look back at all the amazing people and it doesn’t get better than that.”
Childs graduated from BYU in April and is looking forward to the NBA draft of Oct. 16. He said he will be following the Cougars closely.
“I’m watching every game I can,” Childs said. “All the Cougar fans out there that say they’re the biggest BYU fan — they’ve got some new competition.”