Photo: Creighton Athletics
(Omaha, NE) -- Creighton center Ryan Kalkbrenner is one of 10 semifinalists for this year's Naismith Men's Defensive Player of the Year award.
The Atlanta Tipoff Club made the announcement on Tuesday. Kalkbrenner is the only Big East player on the list.
Kalkbrenner leads the Big East with 2.31 blocked shots per game, which also ranks 16th nationally. In league play Kalkbrenner paces the conference with 2.71 blocked shots per game. Kalkbrenner also leads the nation in field goal percentage (.709) this season and tops a Creighton team that has spent eight weeks in the Top 25 with 14.8 points per game.
Last season the Florissant, Mo., native became Creighton's third Big East Defensive Player of the Year in six seasons following a vote of league coaches.
Kalkbrenner has also been named to the Kareem Abdul-Jabbar Center of the Year Watch List, the USBWA Oscar Robertson Midseason Watch List, the Wooden Award Preseason Watch List and Preseason Jersey Mike's Naismith Award Watch List during his junior campaign.
2023 NAISMITH MEN'S DEFENSIVE PLAYER OF THE YEAR SEMIFINALISTS
- Chase Audige - Northwestern
- Moussa Cisse - Oklahoma State
- Jaylen Clark - UCLA
- Zach Edey - Purdue
- Trayce Jackson-Davis - Indiana
- Ryan Kalkbrenner - Creighton
- Caleb McConnell - Rutgers
- Kevin McCullar Jr. - Kansas
- Marcus Sasser - Houston
- Zakai Zeigler - Tennessee