Tre Jones a Finalist for National Defensive Player of Year

Duke players have won the award nine times

Tre Jones is one of four finalists for the Naismith Men’s Defensive Player of the Year, along with Marcus Garrett of Kansas, Ashton Hagans of Kentucky and Mark Vital of Baylor.

“Each of these finalists enjoyed an incredible season, and all of them deserve to be a Naismith Defensive Player of the Year finalist,” said Eric Oberman, executive director of the Atlanta Tipoff Club. “Their tenacity embodies the spirit of this award, and although we won’t see them in postseason play, we believe it is important to still honor their accomplishments.”

The finalists were chosen by the Atlanta Tipoff Club’s board of selectors, comprised of leading journalists from around the country, who based their selections on outstanding on-court defensive performances during the 2019-20 regular college basketball season. The winners are scheduled to be announced on April 1, and each winner will be honored with a ceremony at a later date.

Duke has had six players win the national defensive player of the year award a total of nine times. Shelden Williams was the most recent, in 2006. Steve Wojciechowski was the most recent Duke point guard to win it, in 1998. No other school has won the award as many times.

Jones won the ACC Defensive Player of the Year earlier this season, becoming the first Blue Devil to win the award since DeMarcus Nelson in 2008. He’s only the second player in ACC history to win the defensive award and the conference Player of the Year award in the same season.

Garrett was the Big 12 Defensive Player of the Year, and Hagans was last season’s SEC co-Defensive Player of the Year.