Arizona freshman forward Ivan Karchenkov is "the country's most underrated defender," according to the top ESPN Big XII analyst Fran Fraschilla. Fraschilla has been on Karchenkov since the German national officially signed with Arizona in July.
Fraschilla posted a video to X to illustrate his claim that Karchenkov is the most underrated defender in the country. Karchenkov is eighth in the Big XII, averaging 1.93 steals per game. In addition to being a good on-ball defender, Karchenkov is averaging 2.57 defensive rebounds per game.
Karchenkov has eight games with multiple steals during the 2025-26 season.