April 1, 2011
HOUSTON, TX -- Old Dominion University junior guard Kent Bazemore (Kelford, NC.) has been named to the 2011 Lefty Driesell National Defensive Player of the Year as announced today by Collegeinsider.com. Last week, he was named to the Defensive All-American squad.
The 6-5 Bazemore led the CAA in steals with a 2.2 per game average and was the league's Defensive Player of the Year. He currently ranks 21st nationally in steals. He also blocked 30 shots. Bazemore was second on the Monarchs in scoring at 12.3 points per game was named second team All-CAA and NABC All-District 10. ODU finished the season with a 27-7 record, capturing its second straight CAA title and advancing to the NCAA Tournament as a number nine seed.
Bazemore had three or more steals in a game 11 times, including six against UNC Wilmington on Jan. 24th andfive against Richmond on Dec. 1. He also blocked three shots in a game against Hofstra in the CAA semi-finalsand against Georgia State on Feb. 15th. Bazemore also grabbed six or more rebounds 11 times including12 at William and Mary, 10 at Delaware, nine vs. Xavier and eight vs. Cleveland State.
The award is named in honor of coaching legend Lefty Driesell, who is the only person to ever win 100 games at four different Division I schools. He is best known for his time at Maryland, leading the program to the National Invitational Tournament in 1972 and its second-ever ACC Tournament Championship in 1984. He finished his career at Maryland with a 348-159 record.
2011 LEFTY DRIESELL DEFENSIVE ALL-AMERICAN TEAMDogus Balbay, TexasKeith Benson, OaklandKent Bazemore, Old DominionNorris Cole, Cleveland StateAaron Craft, Ohio StateKenneth Faried, Morehead StateJohn Flowers, West VirginiaTu Holloway, XavierJuJuan Johnson, PurdueDeAndre Liggins, KentuckySam Muldrow, South CarolinaRonald Nored, ButlerDamien Saunders, DuquesneChris Singleton, Florida StateNolan Smith DukeDemontez Stitt, ClemsonIman Sumpert, GA TechJeffery Taylor, VanderbiltMalcolm Thomas San Diego StateBrad Wanamaker, PittsburghCasper Ware, Long Beach State