Pac-12 Conference Men's Basketball Defensive Player of the Year


The Pac-12 Defensive Player of the Year is an annual college basketball award presented to the top defensive player in men's basketball in the Pac-12 Conference. The winner is selected by conference coaches, who are not allowed to vote for players on their own team. The award began in 1984, when the conference consisted of 10 teams and was known as the Pacific-10. It stopped being issued starting in 1988 but was restarted in 2008. The conference added two teams and became the Pac-12 in 2011.
Jorge Gutiérrez won with California in 2012 and became the first player to also win the Pac-12 Player of the Year in the same season. 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. He credited Beavers coach Ralph Miller with molding him into a standout defender. Payton played 17 seasons in the National Basketball Association, and became the only point guard to be named the NBA Defensive Player of the Year. 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. He and Matisse Thybulle are the only repeat winners of the award.
SeasonPlayerSchoolClassRef
1983–84CaliforniaSenior
1984–85UCLASenior
1985–86Washington StateSenior
1986–87Oregon StateFreshman
2007–08UCLASophomore
2008–09USCJunior
2009–10Oregon StateSenior
2010–11USCSenior
2011–12CaliforniaSenior
2012–13ColoradoSenior
2013–14Arizona StateSenior
2014–15Oregon StateJunior
2015–16 Oregon StateSenior
2016–17OregonJunior
2017–18WashingtonJunior
2018–19 WashingtonSenior
2019–20ColoradoJunior

Winners by school