Editor: The following is part of a press release from leftydriesell.com.
(Boston, MA) – The finalists for the 2022-23 Lefty Driesell National Defensive Player of the Year award were announced on Thursday.
The Lefty Driesell Award, given annually to the top defensive player in Division I basketball, is named in honor of the legendary former coach.
Bradley’s Malevy Leons, the Missouri Valley Conference’s Defensive Player of the Year, is one of 25 finalists. The 6’9 forward is believed to be the first Valley player to accumulate both 50 steals and 50 blocked shots in the same season. Leons recorded 52 of each.
Joining Leons on the finalist list are former Drake Bulldog Liam Robbins (Vanderbilt) and St. Louisian Ryan Kalkbrenner (Creighton).
Driesell won 786 games in 41 years at Davidson, Maryland, James Madison and Georgia State. He ranks eighth on the NCAA career Division I coaches victories list and his teams at each stop were known for playing tenacious defense.
His teams won a total of 16 regular season championships and six tournament championships.
The recipient of the 2023 award will be announced in March, in Houston site of the men’s NCAA Basketball Championship.
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It was a good first day of #MTE season for the @ValleyHoops. @BustingBrackets reviews yesterday's games and previews today's.
So good. I was at the CMAs once. So well done. This song has always been powerful. I believe.
iCyMi: @DrakeBulldogsMB knocks off Miami for @CoachMcCollum first #moneyconference win! @Admire_OnAir broke it down for us and tells us more about this exciting (4-0) team.
An emotional win for UNI. 36 hours ago, they learned their teammate, one of their leaders, Grace Boffeli, suffered a season-ending ACL tear.
Two of her roommates, Maya McDermott and Kayba Laube, combined for 58 points in an historic win. Credit @TommyBirch with great questions.
