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.

Key †Co-Defensive Players of the YearPlayer (X)Denotes the number of times the player has been awarded the Big East Defensive Player of the Year award at that point

Winners SeasonPlayerSchoolPositionClass1981–82 Georgetown 1982–83 (2×) Georgetown 1983–84 (3×) Georgetown 1984–85 (4×) Georgetown 1985–86 Villanova 1986–87 St. John's 1987–88 Villanova 1988–89 Georgetown 1989–90† (2×) Georgetown Georgetown 1990–91 (2×) Georgetown 1991–92 (3×) Georgetown 1992–93 Seton Hall 1993–94 UConn 1994–95 Georgetown 1995–96 (2×) Georgetown 1996–97 Villanova 1997–98 West Virginia 1998–99 Syracuse 1999–00 (2×) Syracuse 2000–01 Providence 2001–02 (2×) Providence 2002–03 UConn 2003–04 (2×) UConn 2004–05 UConn 2005–06 UConn 2006–07 Marquette 2007–08 UConn 2008–09 (2×) UConn 2009–10 Rutgers 2010–11 Syracuse 2011–12 Syracuse 2012–13 Louisville 2013–14 Seton Hall 2014–15† Providence St. John's 2015–16 (2×) Providence 2016–17† Villanova Villanova Creighton 2017–18 (2×) Creighton 2018–19 St. John's 2019–20 Seton Hall 2020–21† UConn St. John's 2021–22 Creighton 2022–23 (2×) Creighton 2023–24 (3×) Creighton 2024–25 (4×) Creighton 2025–26 St. John's

Winners by school School (year joined) Winners YearsGeorgetown (1979) 11 1982, 1983, 1984, 1985, 1989, 1990 (2×)†, 1991, 1992, 1995, 1996UConn (1979/2020)When seven schools left the original Big East Conference in 2013 and formed a new basketball-centered Big East Conference, Cincinnati, Louisville, Rutgers, South Florida, and Connecticut (which rebranded itself as "UConn" that year) remained behind in the old, football-sponsoring conference, which renamed itself the American Athletic Conference, marketed as "The American." UConn moved from The American to the new Big East in 2020. 8 1994, 2003, 2004, 2005, 2006, 2008, 2009, 2021Creighton (2013) 6 2017†, 2018, 2022, 2023, 2024, 2025Villanova (1980) 5 1986, 1988, 1997, 2017 (2×)†St. John's (1979) 5 1987, 1985†, 2019, 2021, 2026Providence (1979) 4 2001, 2002, 2015†, 2016Syracuse (1979)Notre Dame, Pittsburgh, and Syracuse left for the ACC in 2013. 4 1999, 2000, 2011, 2012Seton Hall (1979) 3 1993, 2014, 2020 Louisville (2005) 1 2013 Marquette (2005) 1 2007Rutgers (1995) 1 2010West Virginia (1995)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. 1 1998

Notes

References

External links Big East Conference Defensive Player of the Year Winners at Sports-Reference.com