According to John Marshall of the Associated Press on Friday, Zach Edey of Toronto, Ontario has been named the 2023 Associated Press College Basketball Player of the Year. The 7’4″, 285 pound center averaged 22.3 points per game and 12.9 rebounds per game this past season while with the Purdue University Boilermakers. Edey also had a .607 field goal percentage, and a .734 free throw percentage.
Edey is also the first Canadian to ever win the award according to Michael McCammon of 247sports.com. He joins a list of basketball greats to win the award. They include Lew Alcindor, Bill Walton, Larry Bird, Michael Jordan, David Robinson, Shaquille O’Neal, and Tim Duncan.
It should be noted that even though Purdue had a strong regular season and Big Ten Conference Tournament where they posted a record of 29 wins and five losses, the Boilermakers were beaten on St. Patrick’s Day 63-58 by the Farleigh Dickinson University Knights in one of the most humungous upsets in the history of March Madness. Purdue was one of the four number one seeds, and Farleigh Dickinson was one of the four number 16 seeds.
On Saturday, the semifinals of the 2023 March Madness tournament will take place. San Diego State plays Florida Atlantic in one semifinal and Miami plays Connecticut in the other semifinal.
