Award
Pac-12 Defensive Player of the Year Awarded for the top defensive player in men's basketball in the Pac-12 Country United States Presented by Pac-12 Conference First awarded 1983 Currently held by Adem Bona , UCLA
The Pac-12 Defensive Player of the Year was an annual college basketball award presented to the top defensive player in men's basketball in the Pac-12 Conference . The winner was selected by conference coaches, who were not allowed to vote for players on their own team.[ 1] The award began in 1984,[ 2] when the conference consisted of 10 teams and was known as the Pacific-10 .[ 3] It stopped being issued starting in 1988 but was restarted in 2008.[ 4] [ 5] The conference added two teams and became the Pac-12 in 2011.[ 3]
Jorge Gutiérrez of California (2012) and Evan Mobley of USC (2021) are the only players to also win the Pac-12 Player of the Year in the same season.[ 2] [ 6] Gary Payton won both awards in separate seasons with Oregon State , capturing the defensive honor as a freshman in 1987 and the conference player of the year as a senior in 1990.[ 7] [ 8] He credited Beavers coach Ralph Miller with molding him into a standout defender. Payton played 17 seasons in the National Basketball Association (NBA), and became the only point guard to be named the NBA Defensive Player of the Year .[ 7] His son, Gary Payton II , later played with Oregon State as well, and was voted the Pac-12 Defensive Player of the Year in 2015 and 2016.[ 9] He and Matisse Thybulle (2018, 2019) are the only repeat winners of the award.[ 10]
Gary Payton II won the award in 2015 and 2016. Matisse Thybulle won the award in 2018 and 2019. Tyler Bey won the award in 2020. School Winners Years Oregon State 4 1987, 2010, 2015, 2016 UCLA 4 1985, 2008, 2023, 2024 USC 3 2009, 2011, 2021 California 2 1984, 2012 Colorado 2 2013, 2020 Washington 2 2018, 2019 Arizona 1 2022 Arizona State 1 2014 Oregon 1 2017 Washington State 1 1986 Stanford 0 — Utah 0 —
^ "2015–16 Handbook" (PDF) . Pac-12 Conference. pp. 105–06. Archived from the original (PDF) on May 20, 2016. Retrieved February 5, 2016 . ^ a b Faraudo, Jeff (March 5, 2012). "Basketball: Gutierrez sweeps awards — is named Pac-12 Player of Year, Defensive Player of Year" . ibabuzz.com . Bay Area News Group. Archived from the original on February 5, 2016. ^ a b c d e f "Pac-12 Conference 2015–16 Men's Basketball Media Guide" . Pac-12 Conference. 2015. p. 5. Retrieved February 1, 2016 . ^ a b c Letourneau, Connor (March 9, 2015). "Gary Payton II, Oregon State Beavers guard, named first team All-Pac-12, Pac-12 Defensive Player of the Year" . The Oregonian . Archived from the original on March 9, 2016. ^ a b c "UCLA Dominates Pac-10 Player of the Year Honors" . CSTV.com . March 10, 2008. Archived from the original on February 5, 2016. ^ Kartje, Ryan (March 9, 2021). "USC's Evan Mobley joins Anthony Davis in making college basketball history" . Los Angeles Times . Retrieved March 10, 2021 . ^ a b Gress, Steve (September 4, 2013). "Looking back at The Glove" . Corvallis Gazette-Times . Archived from the original on December 31, 2014. ^ Buker, Paul (August 11, 2009). "Ex-Oregon State great Gary Payton will be inducted into Oregon Sports Hall of Fame" . The Oregonian . Archived from the original on March 9, 2016. ^ a b "2017-18 Pac-12 Men's Basketball All-Conference individual honors" (Press release). Pac-12 Conference. March 5, 2018. Archived from the original on March 10, 2018. ^ a b "Pac-12 announces 2018-19 Men's Basketball annual major awards" (Press release). Pac-12 Conference . March 11, 2019. Archived from the original on March 30, 2019. Retrieved March 11, 2019 . ^ a b Finley, Patrick (March 6, 2012). "Pac-12 basketball: Player of the Year starts with 'D' " . Arizona Daily Star . Archived from the original on May 10, 2017. ^ a b Lev, Michael (March 7, 2011). "USC's Marcus Simmons named Pac-10 DPOY" . The Orange County Register . Archived from the original on February 5, 2016. ^ Letourneau, Connor (March 7, 2016). "Cal's Jaylen Brown named Pac-12 Freshman of the Year" . San Francisco Chronicle . Archived from the original on May 23, 2016. ^ "2016-17 Pac-12 Men's Basketball All-Conference Honors" (Press release). Pac-12. March 6, 2017. Archived from the original on March 8, 2017. ^ "Pac-12 announces 2019-20 Men's Basketball annual major awards" (Press release). Pac-12 Conference . March 9, 2020. Archived from the original on March 26, 2020. Retrieved March 9, 2020 . ^ "2020-21 Pac-12 Men's Basketball All-Conference honors and Annual Performance Awards, presented by Nextiva" (Press release). Pac-12 Conference . March 9, 2021. Retrieved March 9, 2021 . ^ "2021-22 Pac-12 Men's Basketball All-Conference honors and Annual Performance Awards, presented by Nextiva" (Press release). Pac-12 Conference . March 8, 2022. Retrieved March 8, 2022 . ^ "2022-23 Pac-12 Men's Basketball All-Conference honors and Annual Performance Awards, presented by Nextiva" (Press release). Pac-12 Conference . March 7, 2023. Retrieved March 7, 2023 . ^ "2023-24 Pac-12 Men's Basketball All-Conference honors and Annual Performance Awards, presented by Nextiva" .
Championships & awards Conference challenges Seasons