Edey Named Semifinalist for Prestigious Sullivan Award
WEST LAFAYETTE, Ind. – Adding to an already impressive list, Purdue men’s basketball senior Zach Edey has been named one of 25 semifinalists for the James E. Sullivan Award, one of the most-prestigious honors awarded to an amateur athlete.
Presented by the Amateur Athletic Union (AAU), the Sullivan Award is given annually to “the most outstanding athlete at the collegiate or Olympic level in the United States”. Founded in 1930, finalists are selected from public nominations following a review by the AAU Sullivan Award Executive Committee.
Edey is joined by such athletes as LSU’s Angel Reese, Iowa’s Caitlin Clark, USC’s Heisman Trophy winner Caleb Williams, Georgia’s All-American tight end Brock Bowers, standout Vanderbilt golfer Gordon Sargent and Stanford women’s golfer Rose Zhang, among others, as nominees.
Past winners include Simone Biles (2021), Ezekiel Elliott (2014), Shawn Johnson (2008), Tim Tebow (2007), Michael Phelps (2003), Peyton Manning (1997), Jackie Joyner-Kersee (1986) and Carl Lewis (1981). The only former men’s basketball winners of the award are J.J. Redick (2005), Bill Walton (1973) and Bill Bradley (1965).
Public voting to help determine the award finalists starts Wednesday, July 12, at 8 a.m. ET and ends Wednesday, July 19 at 11:59 p.m. ET. The winner of the award will be determined through a second voting period with the six finalists from August 9 through August 16.
The most-dominant player in college basketball during the 2022-23 season won all six National Player of the Year awards, winning the Wooden Award, the Naismith Trophy, The Oscar Robertson Trophy (USBWA), Associated Press (AP) National Player of the Year, National Association of Basketball Coaches (NABC) National Player of the Year and The Sporting News National Player of the Year. In addition, he has won the Pete Newell Big Man of the Year Award and the Kareem Abdul-Jabbar Award given by the Naismith Memorial Basketball Hall of Fame to the nation’s top center.
He was named a first-team All-American by every outlet and recently was named a finalist for the top Male College Athlete ESPY award by ESPN.
Edey became the first Boilermaker since Glenn Robinson in 1994 to win National Player of the Year accolades. He is also the fifth Big Ten Player in the last 14 years to be named National Player of the Year joining Evan Turner (2010), Trey Burke (2013), Frank Kaminsky (2015) and Luka Garza (2021) as National Players of the Year.
Edey earned Big Ten Jesse Owens Male Athlete of the Year after a remarkable junior season at Purdue. He was named a consensus first-team All-American, the second straight season that Purdue has had a consensus All-American (Jaden Ivey, 2022), after averaging 22.3 points, 12.9 rebounds, 2.1 blocks and 1.5 assists per game.
He became the first player in NCAA history (since blocks became an official NCAA stat) to record at least 750 points, 400 rebounds, 70 blocks and 50 assists in a season, ranking sixth nationally in scoring, second in rebounds, 19th in blocked shots and 21st in field goal percentage (.607), the only player in the NCAA database to rank in the top 25 of all four categories in the same season.
He finished the season ranking sixth on Purdue’s single-season chart for points (757), first in rebounds (438), fifth in field goals made (290), 14th in field goal percentage (.607), first in dunks (76) and second in double-doubles (27).
He has scored in double-figures in 51 straight games, the longest streak in the country, and fourth-longest streak in school history.
For his career in 99 games, he has 1,533 points, the fourth most for a player through his junior season in school history (Carsen Edwards, Glenn Robinson, Rick Mount), with 847 rebounds, 148 blocks and 106 assists.
He finished the year with eight games of at least 30 points and 10 rebounds, the most for a major-college player in the last 20 years, and his 11 games of at least 25 points and 10 rebounds are the most for a Big Ten player in the last 20 years by four games over Luka Garza (Iowa; 7). The 438 rebounds are the fourth most by a player in Big Ten history behind three seasons by Ohio State great Jerry Lucas (1960-62).
Edey became just the second player in Big Ten history to lead the league in scoring, rebounding and field goal percentage and is one of just nine players (Blake Griffin, Ike Diogu, Antawn Jamison, Tim Duncan, Shaquille O’Neal, Bill Walton, Lew Alcindor, Gary Bradds) to lead a major-college conference in all three categories in NCAA history. Griffin was the last to do so in 2009.
Edey also earned Big Ten Player of the Year accolades after helping Purdue to a Big Ten regular-season title, a No. 1 national ranking for seven weeks and the Big Ten Tournament title.
Edey joined an exclusive list of Boilermakers to win the Big Ten Player of the Year honors, joining the late Caleb Swanigan (2017), JaJuan Johnson (2011), Glenn Robinson (1994) and Steve Scheffler (1990) as winners of the league’s top honor.
Edey is the third Boilermaker to receive the Pete Newell Big Man of the Year Award, joining JaJuan Johnson (2011) and the late Caleb Swanigan (2017) as Purdue recipients. Purdue and Duke are the only institutions to have three Pete Newell Big Man of the Year award winners.
Edey was named a semifinalist for the Naismith Defensive Player of the Year award and earned a spot on the Big Ten’s All-Defensive team.
Edey will return for his senior season in 2023-24, looking to lead the Boilermakers to back-to-back Big Ten regular-season and tournament titles. The Boilermakers are ranked in the top five of all the “way-too-early” top-25 polls.