On Monday, Creighton’s Ryan Kalkbrenner was named Big East Defensive Player of the Year for the third straight season. He’s just the third player in league history to win the award more than twice, joining four-time selection Patrick Ewing (1982, 1983, 1984, 1985) and three-time honoree Alonzo Mourning (1989, 1990, 1992).
“I take pride in the defensive side of the ball and kind of being the anchor on the defense for this team, so it’s always really cool to get some recognition,” Kalkbrenner said on Monday. “I know (Ewing and Mourning) are really great players so it’s kind of crazy that I’m in the same category as them. That’s just an extra little cool thing about it.”
Creighton’s adjusted defensive efficiency is 97.0, or 9.6 points per 100 possessions better than the D1 average defense, ranking 22nd. In Big East play, they haven’t been quite as good (with the home game against Butler where they surrendered 99 points acting as a lead weight) — but their AdjDE still ranks third best in the league at 102.0. Opponents are shooting just 45.1% on two-pointers in league play, ranking first.
And they accomplish all of that without creating much pressure on the ball. Creighton’s opponents turn it over on just 11.3% of possessions (and 11.8% in league games), dead last in the Big East and in all of D1 — they rank 362nd out of 362 teams in turnover percentage. The Jays get a steal on just 5.8% of possessions, also dead last in the league and 358th in D1.
It’s an anomaly: an elite defense that doesn’t force turnovers or apply much on-ball pressure. That’s the Kalkbrenner effect.
He’s blocked 7.5% of opponent’s shots while he’s been on the floor, which is a lot — he’s played 82.5% of his team’s minutes. His stamina and endurance, and ability to guard without fouling, is a big part of his value. UConn’s Donovan Clingan is a better shot blocker, swatting 11.2% of opponent’s shots, but he’s only played 45.3% of his team’s minutes in part because he averages nearly four fouls per 40 minutes.
CU’s entire defense scheme hinges on Kalkbrenner’s skillset; their drop coverage is designed to funnel shooters to him in the paint, where his shot blocking and shot deterrence force teams to take tough mid-range jumpers. 38.7% of Creighton opponents’ shots have been two-point jumpers this season — the only other Big East team above 30% is Providence at 31.9%. UConn is the next closest at 27.0%.
Likewise, CU’s opponents have taken 34.2% of their total shots at the rim, and 13.0% of them have been blocked. That’s the third-fewest in the Big East; Providence’s opponents have attempted 34.0% of their shots at the rim and Villanova’s opponents have taken 29.2% at the rim.
“There’s not many players in the country that you have to game plan for individually when you’re on offense, and Ryan Kalkbrenner is one of them,” his teammate Trey Alexander said on Monday. “He does a great job at timing blocks, a great job at not jumping when people pump fake but being able to time it when they actually do leave their feet. And I think he’s getting even better at moving his feet when we switch, so I think that it’s it’s going to be very scary for whoever has to play against him next year — whether he ends up on NBA roster or back here.”
Then Alexander laughed and added, “Lord forbid he wins it four four times in a row.”
Greg McDermott called the honor incredible, and said he sent the press release to Kalkbrenner’s mom via text message on Monday morning.
“I said exactly that — it’s just, it’s absolutely incredible to play at the level that he’s played, as consistently as he’s played, for three straight years,” McDermott said. “It’s awesome and, you know, I’m glad that my peers in the league think as much of him defensively as I do.”
While fans of Providence and UConn (and to a lesser extent, Marquette) have protested the selection on social media, much as they did a year ago, it’s worth remembering the last part of McDermott’s statement — this is an award voted on by the league’s coaches, not the media. And those coaches have spent the last three months talking about how difficult it is to prepare their teams to play Creighton. Kalkbrenner winning the award is not a surprise to anyone that’s been listening to them.
After a loss to the Jays in February, Xavier’s Sean Miller called Kalkbrenner one of college basketball’s best players. “He’s very deceptive in how he protects the rim. It’s not always with the shot block, it’s with his intelligence and his coordination and his positioning.”
Butler’s Thad Matta said Creighton’s defensive scheme is “so unique, just in in terms of where (Kalkbrenner) is positioning-wise on the floor. It’s hard to get good looks down there.”
Providence’s Kim English agreed, saying in January that “it’s hard to have great shot quality against Creighton because they have a seven-foot building in the middle of the paint.”
“The dude’s a really, really good defensive player in front of the rim,” Georgetown coach Ed Cooley said in January. “You have to be so much more alert in front of the rim going against a shot blocker of his caliber.”
In terms of raw counting stats, Kalkbrenner’s average of 3.0 blocked shots per game ranks second-most nationally and first in the country. He’s second in CU history with 291 career blocked shots trailing only Benoit Benjamin’s 411. His 92 blocks this season are tied for third-most in a single season, behind only Benjamin’s two best years (162 in 1984-85 and 157 in 1983-84). The season he’s currently tied with? Benjamin’s freshman year, where he had 92 swats.
In the bigger picture, Creighton has now had a Big East Defensive Player of the Year in five of the past eight seasons (along with Khyri Thomas’ back-to-back awards in 2017 and 2018). Not coincidentally, the Jays have finished in fourth place in the league in all eight seasons.
