Zach Edey Wins Wooden Award. Is he Deserving?
Photo by The U.S Sun
Purdue center Zach Edey has won the John R. Wooden Award, which is given to the best college basketball player of the season. Edey becomes the second Purdue player to achieve this award since Glenn Robinson did it in 1994.
Before the NCAA Tournament, 7-foot-4 Edey and Purdue were having close to a perfect season. The Boilermakers went 29-6 overall with a 15-5 conference record. They went on to win the Big 10 Tournament, defeating Penn State 67-65 in the championship game.
Then the NCAA Tournament came. Purdue was given a #1 seed by the selection committee and played against #16 seed Fairleigh Dickinson University (FDU) in the first round. While Edey dropped 21 points and 15 rebounds, Purdue was shocked by FDU and lost the game 63-58, ending the Boilermakers season.
Purdue became only the 2nd team in history to lose to a 16 seed. After Edey was announced the victor for the Wooden Award, fans and critics were skeptical on the national committees choice. Does Zach Edey deserve his award? Absolutely!
Yes, losing to a #16 seed in the NCAA Tournament may lose Edey some votes, but his statistics throughout the season save his case. Edey averaged 22.3 points per game and led the nation in rebounds with just under 13 a game. He also led the nation in double-doubles with 27.
Edey was the leader of his team, bringing home a Big 10 Championship back to West Lafayette and was a unanimous 1st team All-American. Edey was a dominant force all season and one loss shouldn’t define a man’s whole season. Even if the loss they took was historically bad.
