Purdue center Zach Edey was the leading scorer in this year’s national championship and has seemingly been dominating teams in the paint since he started playing college basketball.
The 7-foot-4 big man is on pace to be one of the tallest players currently in the NBA, and tied for the 10th tallest in league history.
He has the talent to back it up. Edey twice won national college player of the year and was the only non-UConn player on the Final Four all-tournament team’s roster after the Boilermakers lost to the Huskies in the national championship game. .
But Edey fought valiantly for his 37 points that Monday night in April and is now waiting to see which NBA team decides to take a chance on him.
While Edey waits to find out what his name will be called, DailyMail.com takes a look at his development and college career ahead of Wednesday’s NBA Draft.
Zach Edey is a two-time national player of the year and hopes to hear his name called in the draft.
Edey was a dominant force all season for Purdue, coming up short in the title game.
Growing up in Canada, Edey played many sports, including baseball and ice hockey.
Edey once told Lafayette’s Diary and Courier that his introduction to baseball was almost a complete accident.
“One day my parents took me to a random field and I thought we were having a picnic or something,” Edey recalled.
“All of a sudden, it was, ‘There’s a baseball tryout there.’ You should go there.'”
Edey intimidated other kids in baseball by being a foot taller than other players, especially because he dominated both pitching and hitting.
“From a shorter mound, it was very intimidating stepping into the batter’s box,” teammate Sam Brown said. “He was much stronger and threw harder than anyone else back then.”
His coach, Eric Stickney, told MLB.com: “It was definitely like a safety issue when I played.” You’d really worry about the safety of the other team’s pitcher if he could catch one and hit a line drive.’
Growing up, Edey was a strong baseball player before transitioning to basketball.
His success in the paint should prove intriguing to several NBA teams on draft night.
But despite Edey’s prowess on the mound, basketball was calling and he began playing the sport in high school.
Edey admitted that becoming a professional baseball player “was something I really wanted growing up.” Something I dreamed about.’ But he admitted: ‘I kind of outgrew the sport. My shoulder was giving in a little. “It wasn’t very realistic anymore.”
He went from being one of the top baseball prospects in Canada to one of the top high school basketball talents, and even moved to the United States at the prestigious IMG Academy in Florida.
His talent in high school secured him a scholarship to Purdue’s top-tier college basketball program and it was there where he shined.
When he took the court as a freshman, he became the tallest player in Big Ten Conference history and made their freshman team.
His junior and senior years were especially notable: he earned first-team All-American honors and twice won the national college player of the year award.
Edey even led Purdue to its first Final Four appearance since 1980 and its first berth in a national title game since 1969, where they lost to UConn.
Now, he’ll take his massive frame to the NBA, where he hopes to become a dominant presence in the paint for years to come.