Purdue basketball is home of one of the all-time greats.
Big man Zach Edey locked up the AP National Player of the Year award again, becoming the first repeat award winner since Virginia’s Ralph Sampson won three straight awards from 1981-1983. Edey is one of six repeat winners in the 63 year history of the award. He is also only the second Big Ten Conference player to repeat, joining Ohio State’s Jerry Lucas. Edey is also the first player since Cincinnati’s Oscar Robertson to lead the nation in scoring and lead his team to the Final Four.
Purdue basketball’s Edey joins a Who’s Who of basketball greatness with the award, joining the likes of Pistol Pete Maravich, Jerry Lucas, Lew Alcindor, David Thompson, Bill Walton, Patrick Ewing, Larry Bird, Michael Jordan and Sampson, among others.
“It’s an honor to receive this and join that elite group of people. It’s just been a heck of a season not just for me but for my team. I am so proud of everything we have accomplished up to this point. Obviously, we have more games left to play. With the amount of stuff we’ve gone through, the amount of stuff we’ve heard, to be able to bounce back and accomplish things we have up to this point, it’s been my favorite year I’ve ever lived in,” Edey said.
Purdue basketball coach calls what Edey has done “impressive”
Impressive.
That is the one word Purdue basketball coach Zach Edey uses to describe what Edey has accomplished.
“I think that consistency of being a national player of the year back to back years is very impressive. With that said, go back to Jerry Lucas’ Ohio State games, Ralph Sampson at Virginia, Lew Alcindor at UCLA, you are talking about a lot of success. Those guys didn’t have gaudy numbers, their teams had a lot of success. When you look at Zach, he’s in the same boat when it comes to individual success and team success. It is a little surreal too,” Painter said.
While the majority of the players who received the honor were highly recruited coming out of high school, such was not the case for Edey.
“In that group of guys, he is the outlier. There is no question about that. From Lew Alcindor to Jerry Lucas, Ralph Sampson, like all of those guys coming out of high school were the best player in the country and then the best player in college and ended up having great NBA careers. It says a lot about him and his development. That improvement and development, you have to give credit to him, give credit to his teammates. Kudos to him and he doesn’t have a wall,” Painter said.
Edey’s teammates love playing with the Purdue basketball big man
The love the Purdue basketball team has for Edey was on full display during his awards presentations as every single member of the program, player and staff, showed up for Edey.
Both Trey Kaufman-Renn and Fletcher Loyer speak glowingly about their Purdue basketball teammate.
“I don’t think he even thinks about those things. For him, it’s just every day, getting better and letting the chips fall where they may,” Kaufman-Renn said.
Loyer said what sets Edey apart is the way he “dominated.”
“His determination to do this sort of thing again was really impressive. It’s obviously very hard to stack up to the year he had last year. He really trusted what Coach told him, which was to play hard every night, and that we’d find him and he’d get on the glass and find ways to win. The really impressive thing is that it’s led to so many wins. I don’t think that gets talked about enough.”
Edey focused on something bigger despite awards
This season has been a banner year for Edey, who has won the following: AP National Player of the Year, Kareem Abdul Jabbar Center of the Year, USBWA Oscar Robertson Trophy, Big Ten Player of the Year, All-Big Ten First Team, Big Ten All-Defensive Team, First Team All-American, Sporting News National Player of the Year, Midwest Regional Most Outstanding Player, National Association of Basketball Coaches National Player of the Year, and National Association of Basketball Coaches Pete Newell Big Man of the Year.
While the awards are nice, it has not fazed Edey, who is focused on something bigger.
“This is a big award, but I have bigger things on the horizon that have my attention. Just being appreciative of everything that has happened, but stay in the moment. In the future is when it will sink in,” Edey said.
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