For the second consecutive season, Valparaiso University senior Alec Peters (Washington, Ill./Washington) has been named to the 20-player preseason watch list for the Karl Malone Award, as announced by the Naismith Memorial Basketball Hall of Fame on Thursday. In its third year, the award recognizes the top power forwards in Division I men’s college basketball.

The Horizon League Preseason Player of the Year and recipient of numerous preseason All-American honors entering his senior season, Peters enters his final season looking to cap an already remarkable career. He was named an AP Honorable Mention All-American as a junior, averaging 18.4 points and 8.5 rebounds per game as the Crusaders advanced to the NIT championship game. Peters ended the campaign second in a single season in program history in scoring and fifth in rebounding, and enters his final year at Valpo fourth on the Crusader career charts in scoring and seventh in rebounding – on pace to break the program’s career marks in both categories.

By mid-February, the watch list of 20 players for the 2017 Karl Malone Power Forward of the Year Award will be narrowed to just 10. In March, five finalists will be presented to Mr. Malone and the Hall of Fame’s selection committee.  The winner of the 2017 Karl Malone Award will be presented at the ESPN College Basketball Awards in Los Angeles, CA on Friday, April 7, 2017. Broadcast information will be released at a later date. Previous winners of the Karl Malone Power Forward of the Year Award include Georges Niang, Iowa State (2016) and Montrezl Harrell, Louisville (2015).

Peters is one of just three players on the preseason watch list from outside the Power Five conferences, and is the only representative outside of the Power Five conferences, the Big East and the American Athletic Conference.