Cincinnati Basketball: Bearcats Forward Gary Clark Named AAC Defensive Player Of The Year

Cincinnati Bearcats sophomore power forward Gary Clark has been named the AAC’s Defensive Player of the Year a day after being placed on the conference’s Second Team.

Clark didn’t lead the American Athletic Conference in defensive rebounds or blocks. Those honors go to UConn’s Daniel Hamilton and Central Florida’s Tacko Fall , respectively.

But it was the intangibles that Clark brought to Cincinnati’s defense that made him such a menace on that half of the floor and won him this award. Lengthy and agile but also tall and strong, he has as much of a knack for racing down guards from behind to swat the ball into the stands a la Justin Jackson as he does giving opposing big men fits in the paint.

And that’s what makes this a bit of a surprise, albeit a pleasant one. Like we mentioned yesterday, stats are naturally a major driver of postseason awards. Clark missed being named to the All-AAC First Team because his scoring was lackluster compared to those players that made the list despite posting more rebounds than those five. The same goes with Jacob Evans and his eight points and four boards as a true freshman. He didn’t make the All-AAC Rookie Team because other first year players just put up better numbers in more expanded roles.

But let’s not look a gift horse in the mouth. This is a well-deserved honor for Gary Clark, who’s carried this team during more than a few games this season and will be critical for the Bearcats in both the upcoming AAC and NCAA Tournaments.

Congrats, Gary!