Oscar Robertson (University of Cincinnati – Milwaukee Bucks, etc.), Jerry Lucas (Ohio State University – Cincinnati Royals, etc.), Kareem Abdul-Jabbar (UCLA – LA Lakers, etc.), Bill Walton (UCLA – Boston, etc.) Celtics, etc.), Ralph Sampson (University of Virginia – Houston Rockets, etc.).
The five names lined up here can be said to be the history of college basketball itself. However, the list did not end in 1983. And, of course, college basketball. Fortunately, in 2024, we have Zach Eady.
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More than 40 years have passed since Ralph Sampson won college basketball’s Player of the Year award for the second consecutive year in 1983. During that time, the environment surrounding college basketball has undergone major changes.
For example, the series of lawsuits between Spencer Haywood and the NBA that allowed early entry into the draft for players who have not graduated from college, the reintroduction of player eligibility for first-year college players, and the push for promising players to immediately enter the professional ranks. The introduction of the rookie salary cap, which removes the financial incentive for athletes, and NIL contracts (where college athletes are compensated for their name, image, and likeness rights), which made continuing to play in college considered an economic option. Changes include the introduction of contracts (introduced in 2021).
All of these changes have shaped Eadie into the man he is today, winning Sporting News Player of the Year in two of his four years with the Purdue Boilermakers.
What kind of player is Zach Eady?
Several player of the year awards, including the Naismith College Player of the Year Award (as selected by the Atlanta Tipoff Club) and the Oscar Robertson Award (as selected by the Basketball Writers Association of America). will be announced next month. Until then, Idie won’t be the sixth player to sweep the Player of the Year award, but it’s a safe bet he will be. Iddy joins a list of legends: Robertson, Lucas, Abdul-Jabbar, Walton and Sampson.
I honestly say. If we ended up on this list, we’d feel so accomplished that we wouldn’t even bother getting out of bed.
What more can you do?
Of course you can do better.
Zach Eady has continued to do so.
“What you’re going to remember is how hard he’s always worked his way up to this point,” Boilermakers coach Matt Painter said on Senior Day (his final regular-season home run), when Eady’s jersey number was hung at Mackey Arena. He spoke to reporters during the game.
“I saw old footage of the players, the scene where he scored his first goal at Purdue. Zach Eady was a completely different person. His hair, his body, he didn’t look like the same person. Of course, he was 6 feet tall. It was 24 centimeters though.”
“What impressed me most was his fighting spirit. Bigger players sometimes get calls that are grossly inappropriate. If that happens twice, you’ll be in foul trouble in no time. Big man. I’ve seen players forced into such situations many times.As a result, they become passive in their play.It can’t be helped.Because they want to continue playing the game, they don’t take risks. It’s a passive play. But he was different.”
“He wasn’t originally a player who was actively recruited to come to this school. He doesn’t think of himself as a special player. That’s why he can be selfless. The best way to see that attitude is in his passing. Yeah, he was a terrible passer when he first got here. Now he’s developed into a great passer. But what hasn’t changed from the beginning is he’s an aggressive passer. His ability to score. If we have a player who has both the ability to pass and the ability to pass, there is no better weapon for the team.”
It’s easy to get lost in the impressive list of stats, but Idie has 61 assists in 31 games. That’s about the same number of assists Sampson recorded in two seasons. It’s a very small detail that’s hard to notice, but it can be said to be proof of Idie’s growth during her four years at university.
Perhaps a more obvious sign of his growth is that a big man who wasn’t heavily recruited upon his arrival rose to become a college basketball legend over the course of four years. Eady’s arrival has further heated up the debate over who is the best player of all time at Purdue, which has produced such great players as Rick Mount and “Big Dog” Glenn Robinson.
Mount averaged 32.3 points per game during his career and led Purdue to the NCAA Championship Game in 1969. The fact that he is from Lebanon, Indiana, a 40-minute drive from Purdue University, is a big advantage in supporting Mount.
The Big Dog, on the other hand, has a beloved nickname, is from Gary, a 90-minute drive from Purdue University, and most importantly, he dominated the 1993-1994 season, which marked the end of UCLA’s golden era. He was showing a certain play.
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From the 436th evaluation to the top
The difference between Idie and those two, as well as the five Hall of Famers who won two Most Valuable Player awards, is that all of them were superstars in high school, were recruited as top players, and were all drafted into college. It must have come in. These players were expected to be selected as All-Americans in college from the beginning, and it can be said that they performed better than those expectations.
Meanwhile, before high school, Idie avoided sports played by taller players and was more into baseball and hockey. But he ultimately decided that basketball was where he could best utilize his abilities, so he joined the basketball team during his sophomore year of high school. When he started taking basketball seriously, he entered IMG Academy in Florida and began to engage in more practical training. Still, despite his size of 224cm and 100kg, Idie was rated 436th among high school players who graduated in 2020, and 75th among centers.
However, Idie overturned this low reputation by averaging 8.7 points in 15 minutes per game in his first year. In his sophomore year, he averaged 14.4 points in 19 minutes per game while sharing playing time with senior Trevion Williams (formerly of the Golden State Warriors). Then, in his third year, he quickly broke out, averaging 22.3 points and 12.9 assists per game. Thanks in part to his efforts, Purdue won both the Big Ten Championship and the No. 1 seed in the NCAA Tournament. Edie’s play only got better each year.
It was hard to imagine a better performance, but the following year Edie set new personal bests in stats other than rebounding. They averaged 24.2 points per game, tied for first in Division I, and tied for third in rebounds, averaging 11.7. According to KenPom.com, a college basketball stats/ratings site, Iddy’s offensive rating was 129.8, the second highest in the past 20 years. According to the site’s formula for selecting Player of the Year, Eady’s score was 55 percent higher than the runner-up, Auburn big man Johnny Bloom.
Midway through this incredible season, ESPN draft commentator Jonathan Givony surprised everyone by reporting that “Idie will be selected among the 2024 NBA Draft lottery picks (Nos. 1-14).” Ta. Givony has Idi listed as one of the top 15 prospects in the latest projections as of the beginning of this month. A year ago, Iddie’s old-school style of play and physicality were considered irrelevant in the modern NBA. However, some improvement in his athletic ability has changed his prospects as a professional basketball player.
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But that’s still a long way off. As a member of Purdue, which sits at the top of the rankings for the second year in a row and enters the Big Ten Tournament as the No. 1 seed, Idie is now in his first Final Four and Purdue’s first since 1980. They are eager to expand their business. The Boilermakers enter the Big Ten Tournament this season with a 28-3 record and wins over five of the top 15 teams in the NCAA NET rankings. By the way, last season’s champion, the University of Connecticut, and the University of Houston, which topped the NET rankings, had three wins from the top 15.
Compared to when Sampson accomplished what Idie is trying to accomplish now, good fourth-year players have become rare. Of the 75 consensus All-Americans selected over the past 15 years (players named All-American by the Sporting News, National Press Association, Associated Press and Coaches Association), only 26 are seniors. Only three players have been named to the first team consecutively: Tyler Hansbrough (University of North Carolina), Doug McDermott (Creighton University, now Indiana Pacers), and Luka Garza (University of Iowa, now Minnesota Timberwolves). not present.
Idie has also brought changes to basketball both offensively and defensively. For many people, especially opposing fans, it’s easy to think that it’s easy for Idie, as he weaves through players in the lane and dunks with ease. But to get to this point, Idie has spent years training hard in the offseason and evading smaller players who think they can’t stop him with a foul (and even better if he doesn’t get fouled).
“He’s a presence player,” Painter said.
“He’s a player who is always involved in the game. It’s amazing. When I’m playing a game, I often think, “This player isn’t good today.” No matter the situation, he always shows his presence and doesn’t have to fight. Isn’t that a big deal? Idie never disappears during a game. He’s always a presence. Of course, he has bad games, too. Turnovers. There have been times when he’s done things wrong, and times when he’s played badly. But there’s never been a time when he hasn’t fought. That’s the important thing.”
I don’t think that would be as incredible as being ranked alongside some of the greatest players in college basketball history. But these five legends should be proud that they are now worthy of being considered alongside Zach Eady.
*This article has been translated from the international edition of Sporting News and has been partially edited for Japan. Translation and editing: Shuji Ishiyama (Sporting News Japan Edition)
2024-03-23 03:49:21
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