Purdue’s Zach Edey was the runaway winner of the Associated Press men’s college basketball Player of the Year award, receiving all but one first-place ballot in the results announced Friday.
The 7-foot-4 junior center averaged 22.3 points, 12.9 rebounds and 2.1 blocked shots per game while powering the Boilermakers to Big Ten regular season and tournament titles and a No. 1 seed in the NCAA Tournament.
Edey received 57 votes from the 58-member national media panel, with Indiana’s Trayce Jackson-Davis getting the remaining vote.
The AP honor comes two weeks after a stunning end to the season for Edey, who was the Big Ten Player of the Year and a consensus first-team All-American.
Fairleigh Dickinson upset the Boilermakers (29-6) on March 17 to become only the second No. 16 seed ever to knock off a No. 1 seed in the first round of the NCAA Tournament.
“The season ended in disappointment, which really sucks, but it’s always nice to win individual accolades,” Edey told the AP. “It kind of validates your work a little bit. The last three years I’ve played here, I’ve seen my game grow every year. AP Player of the Year is a great feeling, it just kind of stinks the way the season ended.”
–Field Level Media