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Zach Edey added another Associated Press Player of the Year Award to his trophy cabinet on Friday, when the AP announced the Purdue star as the top player in college basketball for a second straight season. He is the first back-to-back winner since Virginia star Ralph Sampson won it three years in a row from 1981-83.
The 7-foot-4 Canadian dominated college basketball as a senior, leading Purdue to its first Final Four since 1980 and helping the Boilermakers win a second consecutive Big Ten regular season title. Edey received 57 of 62 possible first-place votes. Tennessee’s Dalton Knecht (3) and Houston’s Jamal Shead (2) were the others receiving votes.
“With the amount of stuff that 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 Friday after being presented the AP award. “Just the experiences, going through it with the guys, I wouldn’t trade it for anything. I wouldn’t trade the group of people I went through it with for anything.”
Edey is averaging 25 points, 12.2 rebounds and 2.2 blocks per game entering No. 1 seed Purdue’s Final Four game against No. 11 seed NC State on Saturday. He saved some of his best work for Purdue’s biggest moments, finishing with 40 points and 16 rebounds in an Elite Eight win over Tennessee on Sunday.
The performance made Edey the first player since 1990 to finish with 40 points and 15 or more rebounds in an NCAA Tournament game. Edey is also the first player in Division I men’s basketball to reach 900 points and 450 rebounds in the same season since Larry Bird did it in 1978-79.
Edey also won the Oscar Robertson Award on Friday and was named CBS Sports Player of the Year on Thursday. Here is a rundown of the hardware Edey has brought home this season.
- CBS Sports Player of the Year
- AP National Player of the Year
- Sporting News National Player of the Year
- Oscar Robertson Award/USBWA Player of the Year
- NABC National Player of the Year
- Kareem Abdul-Jabbar Center of the Year
- NABC Pete Newell Big Man of the Year
- CBS Sports First-team All-American
- AP First-Team All-American
- USBWA First-Team All-American
- NABC First-Team All-American
- First-Team Sporting News All-American
- NABC First-Team All-District
- NCAA Tournament Midwest Region MOP
- Big Ten Player of the Year; coaches, media, AP
- All-Big Ten First Team; coaches, media, AP
- Big Ten All-Defensive Team
