Big Maple: How Zach Edey became an improbable Wooden Award favorite

Zach Edey is impossible to miss nowadays.

The 7-foot-4 junior is literally the center of attention each time Purdue takes the court. Every opponent's game plan focuses on limiting Edey's impact, but few have had success against this season's Wooden Award favorite.

It's quite the rise for a player that hadn't played organized basketball until 10th grade. Edey spent his childhood playing hockey and baseball before eventually outgrowing both sports.

Between the seventh and eighth grades, Edey spurted eight inches to 6-foot-10. It became difficult to find hockey equipment to accommodate Edey's new frame, specifically skates for his size 20 feet. The Toronto native's rapidly changing body also created problems on the diamond. At the plate, Edey's strike zone was now enormous. Pitching began to take its physical toll on him as well.

Edey finally turned to basketball as a 7-foot-2 high school sophomore, getting his feet wet that December on a recreational team coached by his friend's father. In March 2018, Edey caught the eye of Northern Kings AAU executive director Vidal Massiah at a tournament. Massiah subsequently invited Edey to try out for the Northern Kings, and he soon joined the grassroots program.

The former St. Bonaventure forward took Edey under his wing, teaching him the basics of the game. But in order to really nurture his raw talent, Massiah turned to an old friend.

Brian Nash coached Massiah during his time with the Bonnies and is now the director of basketball at IMG Academy. The Florida-based school is renowned for its skill development and has sent 11 players to the Association since 2005. Nash had remained in contact with Massiah over the years, and the latter relentlessly vouched for Edey.

"(Vidal) had sent me some clips of Zach just in the gym. It wasn't game film. It was just him doing one-on-zeros in the post, and he just kept saying, 'Hey, you gotta look at this kid. You gotta look at him,'" Nash told theScore. "And there really wasn't a lot of traction at that time."

Edey visited IMG Academy in May as part of an Under Armour basketball camp. Nash was immediately intrigued by Edey's towering stature and what he could become. While an ankle injury limited Edey's time on the court, he and his mother, Julia, left a favorable impression on Nash during their conversations throughout the weekend.

"First and foremost, (Zach) was a quality kid," Nash said. "We weren't going to have to worry about him from a character standpoint. The more time we spent around Julia and understanding what kind of family he came from ... they checked all the boxes."

Things picked up quickly as Edey enrolled at IMG Academy three months later, just prior to the 2018-19 school year.

The Canadian spent his maiden season on the Ascenders' second-tier team, where he built confidence and worked through some growing pains.

Edey's years in hockey and baseball translated into great mobility and hand-eye coordination for his position, though he wasn't much of a rim deterrent as guards often exploited the big man with their superior speed.

Edey's offensive game was a work in progress as well. He didn't have a go-to move to lean on and needed to learn ways to manufacture buckets.

A lot of Edey's post-game development can be attributed to Daniel Santiago. Nash says the former 7-foot-1 NBAer and Olympian forced Edey to become a "creature of habit." They worked on hook shots daily from different spots on the floor and used the Mikan drill to improve his finishing ability around the rim for both hands.

Those activities remain a central part of his routine today.

"He gave him the foundational tools, and their relationship grew," Nash said. "And, obviously, he can talk to him about the IQ side of the game and some of the other intricacies. But to me, the biggest impact he had on him was trying to teach simplicity and a skill set ... he was gonna use in a game all the time.

"He didn't have him out there shooting threes. He had him doing the things that he was going to be successful at."

Edey began reaping the rewards of his commitment. In July 2019, he received his first Division I scholarship offer from Minnesota shortly after helping the Northern Kings capture the Under Armour Rise Circuit championship.

Ten days later, Baylor threw its hat into the ring, and several other schools followed suit, including Purdue and Gonzaga.

Edey, a consensus three-star prospect, reclassified into the 2020 recruiting class that fall and announced his commitment to the Boilermakers in November, citing head coach Matt Painter's strong history with big men.

Before embarking for West Lafayette, Edey got an important year of experience on IMG Academy's first-tier national team. The Ascenders' 2019-20 roster featured three McDonald's All-Americans, including future Duke star and Charlotte Hornets center Mark Williams.

Edey showed promising flashes in spot minutes, but more importantly, the bruising practices against Williams reminded him that he was still a long way from where he wanted to be.

"I think that environment gave Zach the hunger for the game a little bit. … I wouldn't say Zach loved basketball when he first got here," Nash said. "He was a 7-foot-3 kid who was playing basketball because he was tall. … The first year here, he started having some success.

"And then the next year - with that national team and playing with Mark - I think he started realizing, 'You know what, I'm pretty good. And if I put a lot of time into this, I think I can be even better.'"

Purdue considered redshirting Edey for his freshman year, but his performance in summer workouts, along with center Matt Haarms' transfer to BYU, squashed that scenario.

With Edey set for an immediate role, he got to work with Boilermakers big-man guru Brandon Brantley. The Purdue assistant helped develop Edey's hands as he often had trouble taking care of the rock when fed in the post. Edey was also instructed on how to use his momentum correctly so that he wasn't bowling over people for offensive fouls. With the Big Ten's physical brand of play and deep pool of big man talent, avoiding foul trouble was paramount.

Brantley even had to teach Edey how to properly deliver passes because it was something he never really worked on. Painter's offense is run through its big men on the block, and Edey needed to find open shooters out of double teams for this experiment to work.

The Boilermakers' investment in Edey paid instant dividends. He was an effective backup behind incumbent center Trevion Williams, averaging 8.7 points, 4.4 boards, and 1.1 blocks in 14.7 minutes during the 2020-21 campaign. Edey registered double digits in scoring 11 times and recorded at least two swats on nine occasions en route to earning Big Ten All-Freshman team honors.

Edey took another leap in the offseason as a member of the Canadian squad at the 2021 FIBA U19 World Cup, posting 15.1 points, 14.1 rebounds, and 2.3 rejections per contest. The center went toe-to-toe with 2022 second overall pick Chet Holmgren in the semifinal, tallying 16 points, 16 boards, and three denials in Canada's loss to the United States.

Edey's standout play lifted his country to a bronze medal, and he was named to the all-tournament team alongside Holmgren, Purdue teammate Jaden Ivey, and this year's likely top NBA draft selection Victor Wembanyama.

When Edey returned to campus for his sophomore year, fellow Boilermakers big man Williams noticed a shift in his mindset.

"I think sometimes Zach gets in his head, and he has to understand that he's the best player out there," Williams told theScore. "He's gotta believe it. And that's something that we were working on together. ... If you punish guys, people gotta respect you. You just gotta realize what kind of player you are and use it to the best of your ability."

Following the Boilermakers' preseason, Painter gave Edey the starting nod over Williams, who was an All-Big Ten first-team selection the year prior. The pair formed a dynamic one-two punch at the five, with Edey providing the power and Williams bringing the finesse.

Williams, who now plays for the G League's Capital City Go-Go, believes their competitive spirit and the contrast in their games benefitted one another.

"We made each other very uncomfortable, and I think that's why we became so close," Williams said. "Being able to go at it with somebody like that in practice every day, it forces you to expand your game and work on your stuff. With him - not just being a big center - but a center that can move, block shots. … He's made a lot of progress."

Edey nearly doubled some of his stats from his debut season, despite just a four-minute bump in playing time. He tallied 14.4 points, 7.7 boards, 1.2 assists, and 1.2 blocks per game across 37 appearances in 2021-22. No other player in the last 30 years has averaged that sort of stat line in under 20 minutes per contest.

Edey's 64.8% field-goal percentage ranked third in the NCAA, while his assist percentage rose by over 10%, trailing only Williams' elite mark that season for Purdue frontcourt players.

Ex-Boilermakers guard Jared Wulbrun played multiple seasons with both Edey and Williams. The current Purdue graduate assistant coach doesn't believe it's any coincidence that Williams' influence resulted in new personal bests for Edey across the board.

"(Edey) saw what it took. How well you have to play to be an all-conference player," Wulbrun told theScore. "I think that blueprint mixed with the work ethic that (he) had. It's hard not to improve as much as he had. He just kept learning and taking different parts of Trevion's game and other bigs he saw."

With Williams off to the pros, Edey took on the lion's share of minutes at the center position this season. There were some concerns about whether or not "Big Maple" would be capable of handling the heavier workload, having played no more than 19 minutes per game in each of his previous two collegiate seasons. Edey hasn't only silenced those doubts, but he's putting up some historically great numbers.

Edey's eight 30-point, 10-rebound games are the most by a major conference player in one campaign over the last 15 years. His 40.34 Player Efficiency Rating is just shy of the NCAA single-season record set by Zion Williamson. He's also on pace to become the first player since David Robinson in 1985-86 to amass at least 750 points, 450 rebounds, and 50 blocked shots in one campaign.

Edey's third in the nation in rebounds (12.8 per game) and sixth in scoring (22.3). Only Kevin Durant, Michael Beasley, and Mike Daum have finished in the top five of both categories in the last 20 seasons.

But perhaps the most significant stats from Edey's dominant 2022-23 campaign are career lows in turnover rate (11.5%) and personal fouls per game (1.7). The reigning Big Ten Player of the Year has constantly been able to provide elite low-post play and rim protection because he's limited his mistakes and stayed on the floor.

Purdue is among the favorites to cut down the nets in Houston next month, with its man in the middle leading the way.

None of this is a surprise to Williams, who gleamed with pride as he reflected on Edey's extraordinary journey.

"This is something we talked about. I told him it was going to happen before it even happened," Williams recalls. "I was that guy for our team. I believed in everybody, but Zach, most importantly. We took the time. We fought in the gym. We traded words. We were bickering in practice. All that stuff. It was all out of love.

"To see him have that success. Just knowing everything that we've been through to get him to this point. Man, I don't know what to say. It's beautiful to watch."