Top 70 College Defenders Last Year

A total of 70 current D1 college basketball players were named to their Conference All-Defensive Team last year. This is a very good indicator of how good they are, because we have noted you can only account for 19% of overall defense based on blocked shots, steals and defensive rebounds.

We calculate the rest based on the very accurate team defensive AdjD after removing the team steals, blocked shots and defensive rebounds from it to get a good estimate - but on defense we always like to also measure what observers who watch players all year believe.

The measurement for how many points a player takes away from the opposing team with his defense is measured using the following factors:

1. Note that each player on the list was named to the All-Defensive team for their conference (All-D), however if they were also selected as the best defender of the year in the conference - you will see a DPOY next to their name (Defensive Player of the Year).

All Conferences are not equal at first. We list the conference and weight more heavily the six top conferences according to www.kenpom.com from last year, then the next five conferences (there is a big gap between each of these groups and the other conferences.

3. Finally, we factor the Team AdjD of the team on which the player played last year.

Calculating all three we estimate that Isaiah Whaley of UConn is the top defender in the country and takes about 4.6 points away from opposing teams. Here is the list of all 70.

Rnk	Name	2022 Team	AdjD	Award	Conf	2021 Team	Team AdjD
1	Isaiah Whaley	Connecticut	-4.6	DPOY	BE	Connecticut	92.5
2	Darryl Morsell	Marquette	-4.5	DPOY	B10	Maryland	94.1
3	Posh Alexander	St. John's	-4.2	DPOY	BE	St. John's	98.9
4	Lucas Williamson	Loyola Chicago	-4	DPOY	MVC	Loyola Chicago	87
5	Trent Frazier	Illinois	-3.9	All-D	B10	Illinois	88.9
6	Myles Johnson	UCLA	-3.8	All-D	B10	Rutgers	90.6
7	Osun Osunniyi	St. Bonaventure	-3.7	DPOY	A10	St. Bonaventure	91
8	Jamari Wheeler	Ohio St.	-3.5	All-D	B10	Penn St.	95.2
9	Jaime Jaquez Jr.	UCLA	-3.5	All-D	P12	UCLA	94.5
10	Abdul Ado	Cincinnati	-3.4	All-D	SEC	Mississippi St.	95.3
11	Gabe Osabuohien	West Virginia	-3.4	All-D	B12	West Virginia	96.3
12	Jordan Goldwire	Oklahoma	-3.3	All-D	ACC	Duke	97
13	Aher Uguak	Loyola Chicago	-3	All-D	MVC	Loyola Chicago	87
14	Marco Anthony	Utah	-2.8	All-D	MWC	Utah St.	89.5
15	Hason Ward	VCU	-2.8	All-D	A10	VCU	90.2
16	Nathan Mensah	San Diego St.	-2.7	All-D	MWC	San Diego St.	91.1
17	Josh Mballa	Buffalo	-2.4	DPOY	MAC	Buffalo	96.1
18	KC Ndefo	Saint Peter's	-2.4	DPOY	MAAC	Saint Peter's	95.8
19	ShanQuan Hemphill	Drake	-2.3	All-D	MVC	Drake	98.2
20	Tre Williams	Duquesne	-2.3	All-D	MVC	Indiana St.	97.3
21	Jayveous McKinnis	Jackson St.	-2.3	DPOY	SWAC	Jackson St.	97.7
22	Jacob Gilyard	Richmond	-2.3	All-D	A10	Richmond	98.1
23	Tyson Walker	Michigan St.	-2.2	DPOY	CAA	Northeastern	98.6
24	Gaige Prim	Missouri St.	-2.2	All-D	MVC	Missouri St.	98.5
25	AJ Wilson	South Carolina	-2.2	All-D	A10	George Mason	98.4
26	Tre Gomillion	Cleveland St.	-2.1	DPOY	Horz	Cleveland St.	100.7
27	Brandon McKissic	Florida	-2.1	DPOY	Sum	UMKC	100.2
28	Nana Opoku	Mount St. Mary's	-2.1	DPOY	NEC	Mount St. Mary's	101.1
29	Kim Aiken Jr.	Arizona	-2	DPOY	BSky	Eastern Washington	101.3
30	Josh Caldwell	Army	-2	DPOY	Pat	Army	101.6
31	Grayson Murphy	Belmont	-2	DPOY	OVC	Belmont	102
32	Mouhamadou Gueye	Pittsburgh	-2	DPOY	AE	Stony Brook	101.3
33	Theo Akwuba	Louisiana	-1.9	DPOY	SB	Louisiana	104.2
34	Cheikh Mbacke Diong	UCF	-1.8	All-D	MWC	UNLV	104.4
35	Fardaws Aimaq	Utah Valley	-1.8	DPOY	WAC	Utah Valley	104.3
36	Coryon Mason	Abilene Christian	-1.7	All-D	Slnd	Abilene Christian	91.6
37	Damien Daniels	Abilene Christian	-1.7	All-D	Slnd	Abilene Christian	91.6
38	Reggie Miller	Abilene Christian	-1.7	All-D	Slnd	Abilene Christian	91.6
39	David Muoka	UNLV	-1.7	DPOY	Slnd	Lamar	105.9
40	Phlandrous Fleming Jr.	Florida	-1.6	DPOY	BSth	Charleston Southern	108.3
41	Cobe Williams	Louisiana Tech	-1.6	All-D	CUSA	Louisiana Tech	93.7
42	Quan Jackson	UAB	-1.5	All-D	CUSA	UAB	95
43	Trey Jemison	UAB	-1.5	All-D	CUSA	UAB	95
44	Tim Finke	Wright St.	-1.4	All-D	Horz	Wright St.	96.6
45	Josh Anderson	Western Kentucky	-1.3	All-D	CUSA	Western Kentucky	98
46	Malique Jacobs	Kent St.	-1.2	All-D	MAC	Kent St.	99.5
47	Deante Johnson	Cleveland St.	-1.1	All-D	Horz	Cleveland St.	100.7
48	MJ Randolph	Florida A&M	-1.1	All-D	MEAC	Florida A&M	100.9
49	Traci Carter	Hartford	-1.1	All-D	AE	Hartford	100
50	Jarrod West	Louisville	-1.1	All-D	CUSA	Marshall	100.3
51	Lunden McDay	Ohio	-1.1	All-D	MAC	Ohio	100.9
52	Darnell Rogers	UMBC	-1.1	All-D	AE	UMBC	100.8
53	Enrique Freeman	Akron	-1	All-D	MAC	Akron	101.5
54	Stacy Beckton Jr.	American	-1	All-D	Pat	American	106.2
55	Zep Jasper	Auburn	-1	All-D	CAA	Charleston	108.6
56	Jonas Harper	Boston University	-1	All-D	Pat	Boston University	109.3
57	Sukhmail Mathon	Boston University	-1	All-D	Pat	Boston University	109.3
58	Dylan Painter	Delaware	-1	All-D	CAA	Delaware	103.1
59	Kevin Johnson	Illinois Chicago	-1	All-D	Slnd	Nicholls St.	103.7
60	Luke Loewe	Minnesota	-1	All-D	CAA	William & Mary	107.3
61	Malik Miller	Morgan St.	-1	All-D	MEAC	Morgan St.	105.7
62	Richard Njoku	Navy	-1	All-D	Pat	Navy	103.7
63	Clayton Henry	New Mexico St.	-1	All-D	WAC	New Mexico St.	102.7
64	Kameron Langley	North Carolina A&T	-1	All-D	MEAC	North Carolina A&T	106.7
65	Antonio Rizzuto	Towson	-1	All-D	AE	Albany	104.2
66	Charles Thompson	Towson	-1	All-D	CAA	Towson	111.4
67	Javon Levi	UT Arlington	-1	All-D	WAC	UT Rio Grande Valley	102.8
68	Ben Shungu	Vermont	-1	All-D	AE	Vermont	102.2
69	Mehkel Harvey	William & Mary	-1	All-D	CAA	William & Mary	107.3
70	Garrett Covington	Youngstown St.	-1	All-D	Horz	Youngstown St.	109.5