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]
| †
|
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
|
| 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
|
- ^ 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.
