PISCATAWAY, N.J. – The 2022-23 Co-Big Ten Defensive Player of the Year is closer to receiving national recognition in 2023.

Rutgers men's basketball's fifth-year captain Caleb McConnell was been named a 2023 Naismith National Defensive Player of the Year Finalist last week. The watchlist consists of four of the top defenders in the country. He was previously selected to the watchlist and the semifinalist list last month.

"Caleb McConnell is not only the best defender in the conference, but the best in the whole country," head coach Steve Pikiell said earlier this season. "I can do so much more defensively with McConnell's ability to guard positions 1 through 5. People always want to talk about scorers in this league. They should be talking about the amount of points Caleb takes off the board for the other team. He is paramount to our team's defensive success night in and night out."

"It's an honor to be named a Naismith Defensive Player of the Year semifinalist along with some of the greatest defenders in college basketball," McConnell said. "My defense is something I take extreme pride and effort in, and I appreciate the recognition."

McConnell was selected as a semifinalist for the award last season, recognizing the top 10 defenders in the nation during the first week of March. McConnell was also chosen as a member of the watch list for the Julius Erving Award this preseason, given to the best small forward in the country. The Erving Award named the top 20 small forwards in the country in the preseason. McConnell also beat out all of the defenders in the nation for the ESPN College Gameday National Defensive Player of the Year Award earlier this month. McConnell was also selected to the 2022-23 Lefty Driesell National Defensive Player of the Year Award Watchlist, naming the top 20 finalists for the award given to the best defender in Dvision 1 college basketball.

McConnell missed the first five games of the season with a knee injury but returned right back to form averaging 9.1 points. 5.5 rebounds and 3.1 assists-per-game. McConnell is averaged 2.5 steals-per-game with 71 steals, good for second in the conference. His 2.56 steals-per-game are good for sixth in the nation and first in the Big Ten Conference.

McConnell has been the anchor of the top defensive team in the Big Ten and the seventh best in the nation, as Rutgers has allowed 60.4 points-per-game. The current Rutgers defense was the best in the shot-clock era and the best at RU since 1981. McConnell guards each team's top scorer and held them to some of their lowest scoring outputs of the season.

McConnell finished his career first all-time on the Rutgers steals list (221) after tracking down the great Eddie Jordan's 220 career steals with two steals in his final game at RU.

The Naismith National Defensive Player of the Year will be announced on April 2 as selected from the four finalists. The full 4-player list is below: