Purdue Center Zach Edey Named Big 10 Player of the Week for Third Consecutive Week

Third week in a row.

Purdue center Zach Edey has again defended his title of conference player of the week. The threepeat of Big 10 POTW comes after a two games of solid defense and relentless rebounding, remaining a terror in the paint on both ends of the floor. He’s finishing down low and and passing well, had seven blocks against Nebraska, and you simply love to see it.

Purdue’s offense nearly revolves around getting Edey to draw double teams and either finish down low or kick it out to a series of guards and forwards who can consequently find any teammate with an open look, and Edey has been shining it that role. He’s the cog in the offense that’s helped the Boilermakers stay undefeated. He’s certainly lived up to the task, averaging 17/17.5/3.5 in the past week’s two wins.

Edey is well on his way to potentially leading the Big 10 in both rebounds and blocks. If he keeps up this pace, he’s easily a top candidate for player of the year both in conference and nationally, and in broadcasts of this season’s first ten games, we’ve already heard early rumblings of his potential to win the Naismith College Player of the Year award.

What benefits his stat lines in the long term is that he logs crazy minutes without fatigue and staying out of foul trouble with his clean defense. He doesn’t just rely on his length to defend either; his footwork and positioning have improved greatly over the course of his college career.

I’ll soon have more on Edey and how he’s stepped into his role (after only beginning to play basketball later on in high school) and how he just totally ran with it. Stay tuned.