Reece Beekman Snubbed for Defensive Player of the Year Semifinalists

Beekman was not among the ten semifinalists for the Naismith Defensive Player of the Year

Author:
Matt Newton
Publish date:
Mar 2, 2022 3:05 AM EST

The ten semifinalists for the Naismith Defensive Player of the Year Award were announced on Tuesday and, puzzlingly, Virginia's Reece Beekman was not included on the list.

The ten semifinalists were Tari Eason (LSU), Jacob Gilyard (Richmond), Chet Holmgren (Gonzaga), Walker Kessler (Auburn), Christian Koloko (Arizona), Caleb McConnell (Rutgers), Kevin McCullar (Texas Tech), Jamarion Sharp (Western Kentucky), Oscar Tshiebwe (Kentucky), and Mark Williams (Duke).

To leave off Reece Beekman, who is undoubtedly one of the best on-ball defenders in the country, is questionable to say the least.

While determining value for a defensive player goes far beyond measurable statistics, Beekman has the numbers to back it up as well. The sophomore guard is averaging 1.97 steals per game, second-best in the ACC and eighth among all major conference players. That statistic is even more impressive when you consider that Beekman is tasked with guarding the opposing team's best offensive player in every game.

In a matchup against Wake Forest's Alondes Williams, the ACC's leading scorer and a top candidate for ACC Player of the Year, Beekman held Williams to 14 points and Williams committed eight turnovers in the game. In two games against Miami's Isaiah Wong, another one of the ACC's most talented scorers, Beekman held Wong to six points on 3/9 shooting in the first meeting and 10 points on 4/11 shooting in the second meeting. Both times, Wong scored well below his season scoring average and both games were Virginia victories. These are just a couple examples of what Beekman has been doing all season: making life extremely difficult for college basketball's best scorers.

Beekman is the best defender on the best scoring defense in the ACC as well as the second-best scoring defense among major conference teams. It is possible that Beekman's candidacy has been limited by the perception of the ACC as a weaker conference this year. Only one ACC team, Duke, has been ranked in the AP Top 25 since November and the conference is only projected to have four or five teams in the NCAA Tournament.

Only one player from the ACC, Duke center Mark Williams, was included on the watch list of 15 candidates for the Naismith Defensive Player of the Year Award when it was revealed back in late January. Beekman's consideration for the award could have been negatively impacted by the lack of overall success for both his team and the conference in which he plays.

Whatever the reason, it is a travesty that Reece Beekman is not among the candidates for Naismith Defensive Player of the Year.

This is the first time in four years that Virginia does not have a semifinalist for the Naismith Defensive Player of the Year, an award which has only been around since 2018. De'Andre Hunter (2019), Mamadi Diakite (2020), and Kihei Clark (2021) were named semifinalists for the award in the past three seasons.

The National Association of Basketball Coaches (NABC) also recognizes the top defensive player in college basketball with the NABC Defensive Player of the Year award, given annually since 1987. Virginia has had two players named the NABC Defensive Player of the Year - Malcolm Brogdon (2016) and De'Andre Hunter (2019). That winner of that award will be announced in late March.

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