Purdue’s Zach Edey is Sporting News’ College Basketball Player of the Year

The world looks different from Zach Edey’s perspective, and no, that’s not a groundless reference to his greatness. It’s really about the view from the top. In his third season with the Purdue Boilermakers, he has established himself as the nation’s top varsity basketball player, and with that honor comes a perspective on the game that’s vastly different from what he’s known in the past.

It’s not Edey saying he’s the best in the nation: that’s the position of this publication, which recognizes Edey as The Sporting News Player of the Year for the 2022-23 season. That puts him in the company of legends like George Mikan, Oscar Robertson, Kareem Abdul-Jabbar, Michael Jordan and Kevin Durant.

However, Edey knows what he means to his team. A 7-4, 295-pound Toronto junior center, he’s the first offensive option (maybe second and third as well) for the reigning Big Ten Conference champion, a team that was the nation’s No. 1 for seven weeks team that aspires to be Purdue’s first Final Four team since 1980 and, of course, head coach Matt Painter’s first.

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“I think my perception of ‘great’ has changed a lot,” Edey told The Sporting News. “When I got out of high school, I had no idea. I never thought that one day I would be a great player. I thought I was going to be a pretty good player. I was hoping to go to college and make an impact on my team.

“My version of being great my freshman year was being solid off the bench, someone who comes in and helps win. And then last year my perception of being awesome – I’ve actually thought about it a bit this year. When I had 15 and 10 last year, it was like a great game. I would be super happy with that performance. Obviously I played fewer minutes so there was a difference. This year has turned everything upside down. If I walk out of a game this year and I’m 18 and 10, I think I’ve had an off-game. I should have done better.”

How good is an 18-point 10-rebound night in college hoops? Those averages would lead in both categories for five of the other nine teams in the Associated Press top 10, and for each in rebound. And yet those numbers are well below Edey’s average of 21.9 points (eighth in Division I) and 12.8 rebounds (third).

He’s been a force since the start of the season on Nov. 8, catching 17 rebounds in just 24 minutes in a stunning win over Milwaukee. Tested against a high-profile opponent, Marquette, on the first opportunity of the season, he went from the field on 8 of 11 and dominated with 20 points, 13 rebounds and 3 blocks. When the Boilermakers traveled to Oregon for the Phil Knight Legacy tournament and faced three NCAA tournament contenders over a weekend, Edey led the Boilers to victories over West, averaging 22.7 points, 10.3 rebounds and 58.5 percent shooting Virginia, Gonzaga and Duke.

The remainder of the season was a series of similar episodes: 30 points and 13 rebounds against Penn State, 32 and 17 at Michigan State, 38 and 13 when the rematch came at Mackey Arena, 17 and 19 in a narrow, necessary win in Wisconsin in the final week of the regular season.

It’s not easy being that player. If there’s one aspect of basketball that’s too often underestimated by its audience, it’s the responsibility of being the “star” of a team, if we may call it that. The majority of the most successful teams have players like this – whoever performs this reliably can, as a coach, build an attack around their talent.

Most who achieve this status as colleagues have extensive experience as the first option for their team. In fact, many who don’t were high school stars but just weren’t gifted enough to carry the same responsibilities at a higher level.

The story has often been told of how late he got into basketball, growing up in Toronto – resisting the apparent lure of such a tall teenager in favor of baseball and hockey – and only starting to play seriously at 16. When he got serious about baskets, he convinced his family that IMG Academy in Florida would be the best course for his development, but the team there already had future Duke Blue Devil Mark Williams at their core. Edey didn’t even start, let alone start. So this is all new to him.

“I think he’s done a great job in that area. I think it still gets on his nerves a bit just because he’s personally wired,” Painter told The Sporting News. “Even though he’s a competitive guy, he’s really relaxed off the pitch.

“The one thing I try to talk about with all of our guys, but especially with him, you need to make your hard work fun. When everything comes to you through personal attention or the attention of our team due to success – that’s what you’ve been dreaming of. Those were your goals. Everyone would love to be in Zach Edey’s place. Don’t lose perspective.”

Edey has been our tallest player of the year since Virginia’s Ralph Sampson in 1982. That extraordinary size is both an integral part of his basketball success and a significant burden. There are those who assume the game was easy for a player who, while attending the traditional net-cutting ceremony to celebrate Purdue’s Big Ten title, walked past the ladder and reached up with a pair of scissors to cut a piece of string. He wasn’t even tiptoeing.

And there can be officials who give overwhelmed opponents greater physical leeway. In other words, it’s not uncommon for defenders to hang by Edey’s arms without consequence while he attempts to rotate from low post into a layup, hookshot, or dunk.

If becoming a great player at that height were easy, there would be more than six 7-footers to have previously won this award, which has been presented 72 times.

Being 7-4 meant learning different techniques in many fundamental areas of the game, such as rebounds. Players, particularly tall men who regularly engage in rebounds, are instructed to “chin” the ball when recovering a miss. This means raising your elbows and gripping the ball tightly to your chest, making it difficult for opponents to get close and try to knock it free.

“He had to learn to turn differently; he had to pocket his elbows,” Painter said. “If he chins it, his elbow is right next to your head. When two 6-10 guys do it, your elbow goes right past someone’s shoulder blade. You don’t get a foul if you turn and hit someone in the shoulder. But if you hit someone on the head, you do. So he had to learn some basic things when people push him.”

Purdue has had an almost assembly line of prolific college greats over the past 15 seasons: JaJuan Johnson, AJ Hammons, Caleb Swanigan, Isaac Haas and Trevion Williams. Once Edey was convinced he could play college basketball, he decided to become a Boilermaker.

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“It really helped sell it,” Painter said. “Us and Gonzaga, we were the schools where he wanted to recruit him. He recruited us about as hard as we recruited him.”

Edey was a reserve for Williams in 2020-21, but despite Tre averaging 15.5 points and 9.1 rebounds and being named a first-team All-Big Ten, Edey decided he would try to get the starting position the following year to win. And he did. He started 33 of the team’s 37 games in a 28-7 season that ended in the Sweet 16.

That should be an indication of what might be possible. So, to be honest, it was simple math. Edey and Williams almost split the middle position in half in 2021-22. Edey averaged 14.4 points and 7.7 rebounds in his 19 minutes a night. With Williams gone, he now has nearly 32 minutes, a 66 percent increase. So if a similar increase in production was expected, Edey would be on track to average 23.8 points and 12.8 rebounds — almost exactly the numbers he’s posting.

“I think if he played 30 minutes last year, he would have averaged 20 and 10,” Painter said. “Some people have asked me that question and I said I feel like he’s here. And then a bunch of people came back to me and came full circle and said, do you really believe that? And I said, ‘I don’t think so next year; I believed it last year. I think he can do even better.

“If you look at how he’s recovering, he’s made a big leap from his freshman year to his sophomore year there. And where he made the biggest leap from his sophomore to his junior year is in his ability to block shots. He moves better. It’s a natural progression for someone in their sixth year of organized basketball.”

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Purdue assistant coach Brandon Brantley, who has worked directly with this long list of elite Purdue Big Men, told The Sporting News a story about Edey’s freshman season when he injured his elbow and couldn’t bend his arm.

“If it was any other kid, that kid wouldn’t have practiced that day, and he’s only going out there with one arm,” Brantley said. “It’s hard enough competing in a Division I practice with one arm, but he’s up against Trevion Williams. He refused to sit outside. He felt like he was in a good place, he was making progress and he felt like he didn’t want to lose his rhythm. He just kept going.

“He had a burning desire to be great. Looking at him today and thinking about when he got here – no one saw that coming. But give credit to this kid for setting a goal and actually achieving that goal, the desire to be the best player he absolutely can be.

Honestly, Zach Edey exceeded that goal. He grew beyond what he envisioned himself as a basketball player. He redefined his own potential for greatness. It’s not easy being at the top. But the company he’s keeping now – Tim Duncan, David Robinson, Patrick Ewing, and we might keep this up for a while – is extraordinary.