{"id":110201,"date":"2026-01-27T18:47:00","date_gmt":"2026-01-27T18:47:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/basketball.runfyers.com\/index.php\/2026\/01\/27\/julia-dalan-named-to-the-2026-naismith-defensive-player-of-the-year-watch-list-university-of-portland-athletics\/"},"modified":"2026-01-27T18:47:00","modified_gmt":"2026-01-27T18:47:00","slug":"julia-dalan-named-to-the-2026-naismith-defensive-player-of-the-year-watch-list-university-of-portland-athletics","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/basketball.runfyers.com\/index.php\/2026\/01\/27\/julia-dalan-named-to-the-2026-naismith-defensive-player-of-the-year-watch-list-university-of-portland-athletics\/","title":{"rendered":"Julia Dalan Named to the 2026 Naismith Defensive Player of the Year Watch List &#8211; University of Portland Athletics"},"content":{"rendered":"<p><\/p>\n<div>\n<aside class=\"sidearm-story-template-links hide-on-large\" aria-label=\"Story Links\">&#13;<\/p>\n<h3 class=\"hide\">Story Links<\/h3>\n<p>&#13;<br \/>\n                    &#13;<br \/>\n                    &#13;<br \/>\n                <\/aside>\n<p>                 ATLANTA \u2013 Portland Pilots post Julia Dalan was one of 25 players named to the 2026 Naismith Women&#8217;s College Defensive Player of the Year Watch List on Tuesday.<br \/>\n\u00a0<br \/>\nAwarded since 2018, the honor recognizes the best defensive player in college basketball and is presented by the Atlanta Tipoff Club. Dalan becomes the second Pilot in three seasons to be named to the watch list, with Lucy Cochrane having made the list in 2024. Dalan is the only player in the country named to the list to come from a mid-major school and one of just four freshmen to make the list.<br \/>\n\u00a0<br \/>\nThe freshman from Centralia has already cemented herself as one of the best defenders in the nation in her first year of collegiate action. She currently leads NCAA Division I in both total blocks (65) and blocks per game (3.42) in what is already one of the best defensive seasons in Pilot history. Her 65 blocks are the eighth most ever in a single season and the second most by a Pilot freshman, just one shy of the freshman record set by Rosemary Adams in the 1990-91 season.<br \/>\n\u00a0<br \/>\nDalan leads a defense that currently ranks first in the WCC and fifth nationally in team blocks per game at 6.3 rejections a contest. Dalan, who is also averaging 7.4 points and 5.4 rebounds per game and is the first Pilot freshman to record multiple double-doubles since Alex Fowler in the 2019-20 season, has the most blocks of any WCC freshman since Sara Hamson in the 2017-18 season. Dalan is the only player in the nation to have posted at least eight blocks in a game multiple times this season.<br \/>\n\u00a0<br \/>\nThe Portland Pilots are 11-10 overall and 5-4 in WCC play as they return to the Chiles Center to host the Saint Mary&#8217;s Gaels and the San Diego Toreros. They&#8217;ll start with the Gaels on Thursday, Jan. 29 at 6 p.m. Check PortlandPilots.com for tickets, live stats, audio and video options.\u00a0<\/p>\n<hr\/>\n<p><strong>Get Your Tickets Now!<\/strong><br \/>\nSecure your spot now for any upcoming Portland Pilots ticketed home event by visiting\u00a0<a href=\"https:\/\/portlandpilots.evenue.net\/cgi-bin\/ncommerce3\/SEGetGroupList?groupCode=TIX&amp;linkID=twup&amp;shopperContext=&amp;caller=appList&amp;appCode=\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\"><strong>PortlandPilots.com\/Tickets<\/strong><\/a>\u00a0or by downloading the Portland Pilots App. \u00a0For group and fan experience package information, email\u00a0<a href=\"https:\/\/portlandpilots.com\/news\/2026\/1\/27\/mailto:pilotsboxoffice@up.edu\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\"><strong>pilotsboxoffice@up.edu<\/strong><\/a>.<\/p>\n<p><strong>Donate Today\u00a0<\/strong><br \/>&#13;<br \/>\nFans interested in making a contribution to University of Portland Athletics can do so by\u00a0<a href=\"https:\/\/securelb.imodules.com\/s\/1797\/lightningform\/form.aspx?sid=1797&amp;gid=2&amp;pgid=659&amp;cid=1665\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\"><strong>clicking here<\/strong><\/a><strong>.<\/strong>\u00a0Your gift helps our over 300 student-athletes compete at the highest level \u2013 on and off the field &#8211; in the rapidly changing world of intercollegiate athletics.\u00a0All gifts to Pilot Athletics are 100% tax deductible.<\/p>\n<p><strong>Follow Along With the Action<\/strong><br \/>&#13;<br \/>\nGet the latest news and information about your favorite University of Portland athletic programs by visiting\u00a0<a href=\"https:\/\/portlandpilots.com\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\"><strong>PortlandPilots.com<\/strong><\/a>. You can also follow along for the most dynamic coverage and team-centric content by following us on\u00a0<a href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/portlandpilots\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\"><strong>Twitter<\/strong><\/a>, liking us on\u00a0<a href=\"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/PortlandPilots\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\"><strong>Facebook<\/strong><\/a>, and following us on\u00a0<a href=\"https:\/\/www.instagram.com\/portlandpilots\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\"><strong>Instagram<\/strong><\/a>.<br \/>&#13;<br \/>\n\u00a0<br \/>&#13;<br \/>\n\u00a0<\/p>\n<\/p><\/div>\n<p><script async src=\"\/\/platform.twitter.com\/widgets.js\" charset=\"utf-8\"><\/script><script async defer src=\"https:\/\/platform.instagram.com\/en_US\/embeds.js\"><\/script><br \/>\n<br \/><a href=\"https:\/\/portlandpilots.com\/news\/2026\/1\/27\/womens-basketball-julia-dalan-named-to-the-2026-naismith-defensive-player-of-the-year-watch-list.aspx\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">Source link <\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>&#13; Story Links &#13; &#13; &#13; ATLANTA \u2013 Portland Pilots post Julia Dalan was one of 25 players named to the 2026 Naismith Women&#8217;s College Defensive Player of the Year Watch List on Tuesday. \u00a0 Awarded since 2018, the honor recognizes the best defensive player in college basketball and is presented by the Atlanta Tipoff [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":110202,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":[],"categories":[9],"tags":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/basketball.runfyers.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/110201"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/basketball.runfyers.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/basketball.runfyers.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/basketball.runfyers.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/basketball.runfyers.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=110201"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/basketball.runfyers.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/110201\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/basketball.runfyers.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/110202"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/basketball.runfyers.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=110201"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/basketball.runfyers.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=110201"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/basketball.runfyers.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=110201"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}