Big East Conference Men's Basketball Defensive Player of the Year

Big East Conference Men's Basketball Defensive Player of the Year
Awarded for	the best defensive basketball player in the Big East Conference
Country	United States
History
First award	1982
Most recent	Ryan Kalkbrenner, Creighton

The Big East Conference Men's Basketball Defensive Player of the Year award is given to the men's basketball player in the Big East Conference voted as the top defender by the conference coaches. It was first awarded at the end of the 1981–82 season.^[1]^[2]

Key[edit]

†	Co-Defensive Players of the Year
Player (X)	Denotes the number of times the player has been awarded the Big East Defensive Player of the Year award at that point

Winners[edit]

Season	Player	School	Position	Class
1981–82	Patrick Ewing	Georgetown	C	Freshman
1982–83	Patrick Ewing (2×)	Georgetown	C	Sophomore
1983–84	Patrick Ewing (3×)	Georgetown	C	Junior
1984–85	Patrick Ewing (4×)	Georgetown	C	Senior
1985–86	Harold Pressley	Villanova	SF	Senior
1986–87	Mark Jackson	St. John's	PG	Senior
1987–88	Gary Massey	Villanova	G/F	Junior
1988–89	Alonzo Mourning	Georgetown	C	Freshman
1989–90^†	Alonzo Mourning (2×)	Georgetown	C	Sophomore
Dikembe Mutombo	Georgetown	C	Sophomore
1990–91	Dikembe Mutombo (2×)	Georgetown	C	Junior
1991–92	Alonzo Mourning (3×)	Georgetown	C	Senior
1992–93	Jerry Walker	Seton Hall	F	Senior
1993–94	Donyell Marshall	UConn	F	Junior
1994–95	Allen Iverson	Georgetown	G	Freshman
1995–96	Allen Iverson (2×)	Georgetown	G	Sophomore
1996–97	Jason Lawson	Villanova	C	Senior
1997–98	Damian Owens	West Virginia	SF	Senior
1998–99	Etan Thomas	Syracuse	F/C	Junior
1999–00	Etan Thomas (2×)	Syracuse	F/C	Senior
2000–01	John Linehan	Providence	PG	Junior
2001–02	John Linehan (2×)	Providence	PG	Senior
2002–03	Emeka Okafor	UConn	C	Sophomore
2003–04	Emeka Okafor (2×)	UConn	C	Junior
2004–05	Josh Boone	UConn	C	Sophomore
2005–06	Hilton Armstrong	UConn	C	Senior
2006–07	Jerel McNeal	Marquette	SG	Sophomore
2007–08	Hasheem Thabeet	UConn	C	Sophomore
2008–09	Hasheem Thabeet (2×)	UConn	C	Junior
2009–10	Hamady N'Diaye	Rutgers	C	Senior
2010–11	Rick Jackson	Syracuse	F/C	Senior
2011–12	Fab Melo	Syracuse	C	Sophomore
2012–13	Gorgui Dieng	Louisville	C	Junior
2013–14	Fuquan Edwin	Seton Hall	G/F	Senior
2014–15^†	Kris Dunn	Providence	PG	Junior
Sir'Dominic Pointer	St. John's	SG	Senior
2015–16	Kris Dunn (2×)	Providence	PG	Senior
2016–17^†	Mikal Bridges	Villanova	G/F	Sophomore
Josh Hart	Villanova	SG	Senior
Khyri Thomas	Creighton	SG	Sophomore
2017–18	Khyri Thomas (2×)	Creighton	SG	Junior
2018–19	Justin Simon	St. John's	SG	Senior
2019–20	Romaro Gill	Seton Hall	C	Senior
2020–21^†	Isaiah Whaley	UConn	F/C	Senior
Posh Alexander	St. John's	PG	Freshman
2021–22	Ryan Kalkbrenner	Creighton	C	Sophomore
2022–23	Ryan Kalkbrenner (2×)	Creighton	C	Junior
2023–24	Ryan Kalkbrenner (3×)	Creighton	C	Senior

Winners by school[edit]

School (year joined)^[3]	Winners	Years
Georgetown (1979)	11	1982, 1983, 1984, 1985, 1989, 1990 (2×)^†, 1991, 1992, 1995, 1996
UConn (1979/2020)^{[a 1]}^{[a 2]}	8	1994, 2003, 2004, 2005, 2006, 2008, 2009, 2021
Villanova (1980)	5	1986, 1988, 1997, 2017 (2×)^†
Creighton (2013)	5	2017^†, 2018, 2022, 2023, 2024
Providence (1979)	4	2001, 2002, 2015^†, 2016
St. John's (1979)	4	1987, 1985^†, 2019, 2021
Syracuse (1979)^{[a 3]}	4	1999, 2000, 2011, 2012
Seton Hall (1979)	3	1993, 2014, 2020
Louisville (2005)^{[a 1]}	1	2013
Marquette (2005)	1	2007
Rutgers (1995)	1	2010
West Virginia (1995)^{[a 4]}	1	1998

Notes[edit]

^ ^a ^b Following the split of the original Big East in 2013, Cincinnati, Louisville, Rutgers, South Florida, and UConn remained in the football-sponsoring portion now known as the American Athletic Conference.
^ UConn joined the current Big East in 2020.
^ Notre Dame, Pittsburgh, and Syracuse left for the ACC in 2013.
^ West Virginia became an all-sports member of the Big East in 1995; it had also joined for football in 1991. The Mountaineers left for the Big 12 in 2012.

References[edit]

^ "2008-09 Big East Media Guide" (PDF). p. 143. Archived from the original (PDF) on April 28, 2009. Retrieved February 10, 2020.
^ "MEN'S BASKETBALL RECORDS - ALL-BIG EAST TEAMS". bigeast.org. Archived from the original on November 17, 2002. Retrieved May 29, 2020.
^ "The Big East Conference". Big East Conference. Archived from the original on March 16, 2009. Retrieved March 29, 2009.

External links[edit]

Big East Conference Defensive Player of the Year Winners at Sports-Reference.com

[The_American-4] Following the split of the original Big East in 2013, Cincinnati, Louisville, Rutgers, South Florida, and UConn remained in the football-sponsoring portion now known as the American Athletic Conference.

[5] UConn joined the current Big East in 2020.

[ACC_2013-6] Notre Dame, Pittsburgh, and Syracuse left for the ACC in 2013.

[7] West Virginia became an all-sports member of the Big East in 1995; it had also joined for football in 1991. The Mountaineers left for the Big 12 in 2012.

[09guide-1] "2008-09 Big East Media Guide" (PDF). p. 143. Archived from the original (PDF) on April 28, 2009. Retrieved February 10, 2020.

[awards-2] "MEN'S BASKETBALL RECORDS - ALL-BIG EAST TEAMS". bigeast.org. Archived from the original on November 17, 2002. Retrieved May 29, 2020.

[3] "The Big East Conference". Big East Conference. Archived from the original on March 16, 2009. Retrieved March 29, 2009.

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[3]

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v t e Big East Conference men's basketball
Teams	Butler Bulldogs Creighton Bluejays DePaul Blue Demons Georgetown Hoyas Marquette Golden Eagles Providence Friars St. John's Red Storm Seton Hall Pirates UConn Huskies Villanova Wildcats Xavier Musketeers
Championships & awards	Big East men's basketball tournament Big East men's regular season champions Coach of the Year Player of the Year Defensive Player of the Year Most Improved Player Freshman of the Year All-Big East
Conference challenges	Big East–Big 12 Battle (2019–present) Gavitt Tipoff Games (2015–2023) SEC–Big East Challenge (2007–2012)
Seasons	1979–80 1980–81 1981–82 1982–83 1983–84 1984–85 1985–86 1986–87 1987–88 1988–89 1989–90 1990–91 1991–92 1992–93 1993–94 1994–95 1995–96 1996–97 1997–98 1998–99 1999–2000 2000–01 2001–02 2002–03 2003–04 2004–05 2005–06 2006–07 2007–08 2008–09 2009–10 2010–11 2011–12 2012–13 2013–14 2014–15 2015–16 2016–17 2017–18 2018–19 2019–20 2020–21 2021–22 2022–23 2023–24