When the Big East announced their postseason honors on Monday, Ryan Kalkbrenner was named 2023 Big East Defensive Player of the Year for the second straight season. To say it’s an unpopular decision in some corners of the internet is an understatement — especially in Providence and Connecticut.
For their part, Providence fans (and coach Ed Cooley) think Devin Carter was deserving of the nod. While Carter is a great perimeter defender, it’s tough for a player on a middling defensive squad to win the award — and Providence’s defense is sixth in the Big East in adjusted defensive efficiency and fifth in effective shooting percentage. Not to mention in two losses during the regular season’s final week, their defense was shredded in giving up 94 points to Xavier and 82 to Seton Hall. Not exactly a great last impression.
UConn looks at Adama Sanogo’s performance against Kalkbrenner as proof he’s not deserving. Though it’s worth pointing out there that in scoring 17 points in Omaha, Sanogo needed 17 shots — and in scoring 26 in Connecticut, he took 20 shots. For the season, Sanogo has made 61.9% of his shots inside the arc. Against Kalkbrenner and Creighton? 12-of-25, or 48%.
Creighton’s adjusted defensive efficiency is 93.8, 10th best in all of college basketball. In Big East games, it’s 97.0 — and the only other team in the league under 100 is Seton Hall, barely, at 99.9.
Their effective field goal percentage, defensively, is 45.7% in league games. The next closest team isn’t all that close — Seton Hall is second at 49.4%. On two-point shots, CU’s opponents have made 44.5% — the next closest team is Connecticut at 47.4%. They’re the best defensive team in the conference by a fair margin, and they do it without creating much pressure on the ball. Creighton’s opponents turn it over on just 14.4% of possessions (and 13.5% in league games), dead last in the Big East and 353rd in D1. The Jays get a steal on just 7.6% of possessions, also dead last in the league and 308th in D1.
That’s the Kalkbrenner effect.
“We were, from an analytical standpoint, the best defense in the Big East and he’s a big reason why,” Greg McDermott said. “And in a year where I don’t think he’s been totally himself, he’s continued to get back in the flow and impact the game in a lot of different ways on both ends of the floor. Especially his ability to protect the rim. Part of it is that he protects the rim, and part of it is the threat of him protecting the rim that keeps people away from there.”
It’s not just McDermott saying that. UConn head coach Dan Hurley, after the Jays’ February win in Omaha, told the media that “he spooks people at the rim, man. The guy is such a presence, and when he’s not there, you’re thinking about him. Jordan (Hawkins) had that opportunity at the rim late but when you have a defensive center who’s as good as anyone in the country, that’s in the back of your mind when you go in there. Even when he’s not necessarily there.”
To Hurley’s point, when Kalkbrenner has been on the floor this season, CU’s opponents have taken 36% of their shots at the rim. And when he’s on the bench? That number balloons all the way to 45%. So not only do teams shoot worse at the rim thanks to Kalkbrenner’s elite rim protection, they take almost 10% fewer shots from close range than they do when he’s off the floor. It’s easy to notice when you watch the Jays play; the minute Fredrick King checks in off the bench, opponents immediately attack the rim and take shots they simply do not attempt when Kalkbrenner is on the floor.
The result of Kalkbrenner changing opponents’ gameplans? Those shots often become midrange jumpers, which are statistically much tougher shots. When Kalkbrenner is on the floor, 34% of opponent’s total shots are classified as midrange jumpers; that number drops to 25% when he’s out.
Xavier’s Sean Miller agreed with Hurley’s assessment. “(Kalkbrenner’s) presence separates Creighton from everybody else. He’s able to patrol the basket and block shots, allowing four other players to do things. Creighton has a great way of making you take those tough two(-pointers). I do think Creighton’s defense starts with that big fella.”
To that point, Trey Alexander and Arthur Kaluma have said that they’re able to be more aggressive on ball handlers trying to get downhill off the dribble because they know if they get beat, Kalkbrenner is backing them up and ready to alter or block shots.
“He’s been blessed with some innate ability to understand angles, to understand when to leave the floor, when not to leave the floor, and to do it all without fouling. It’s really been incredible,” McDermott said. Then he elaborated.
“He’s one of the best I’ve ever been around, or ever coached against, simply because you can’t get him off his feet every play. A lot of shot blockers, if you get to the rim, you can get them up in the air — and now their team is at a disadvantage. You can get them in foul trouble. (Shot blockers) are generally guys that are going to leave their feet a lot. It’s a skill that’s very difficult to teach because you want to put pressure on the rim and emphasize blocking those shots. Some guys don’t have to leave their feet to change a shot or to even get a piece of it. His ability to do that has been incredible, and you know, he’s always had that. We saw it when we watched him play in high school. We wondered how quickly it would translate to this level, and fortunately for us it translated pretty quick.”
For his part, Kalkbrenner admitted that while he’s “not like the most athletic person in the world,” elite post defense is as much, if not more, about knowing where to be than it is about athleticism.
“Having a good understanding of our defensive principles and knowing how our defense works is the key,” he said. “It’s being smart and being in the right places, because sometimes the block isn’t always the play that saves the possession. Sometimes it’s having your hand in the passing lane and not even letting the pass get through in the first place. Part of it is having that physical gift of being athletic and long and tall and all that, but part of it’s just being a smart basketball player.”
As for how he found out he’d won?
Kalkbrenner told the media on Monday that he was probably one of the last people to find out he’d won the award. Noting that he doesn’t often log in to social media, which is where the league made the announcement, he instead found out when one of the team managers interrupted his breakfast to tell him.
“One of the managers came up to me and said congratulations,” Kalkbrenner said. “I was like ‘What for?’ So I didn’t really know until I came upstairs and the staff told me. It was definitely cool.”
Kalkbrenner is just the 11th player in league history to win the recognition more than once, joining names like Patrick Ewing, Alonzo Mourning, Dikembe Mutombo, Kris Dunn and Allen Iverson. He’s the first repeat winner since former Bluejay Khyri Thomas in 2017 and 2018. That means Creighton has now had a Big East Defensive Player of the Year in four of the past seven seasons.
In other awards announced Monday, Kalkbrenner was named All-Big East First Team, and Baylor Scheierman and Trey Alexander earned Honorable Mention honors. It’s the first time since CU joined the Big East a decade ago that they’ve had three players named to All Conference teams.
