Zach Edey. Alex Martin/Journal and Courier / USA TODAY NETWORK

Zach Edey's latest honor puts him in rare Big Ten company

By Adam Gretz | Last updated 3/12/24

Purdue big man Zach Edey keeps racking up honors at the NCAA level.

Edey was named the Big Ten's player of the year for the second year in a row on Tuesday, making him just the fourth player in conference history to accomplish that feat.

He joins Iowa’s Luka Garza, Michigan State’s, Mateen Cleaves, and Ohio State’s Jim Jackson as the only other players to do it.

Zach Edey is your back-to-back @B1GMBBall Player of the Year.

4th player to ever do that. pic.twitter.com/HghpLBzA9w
— Purdue Men's Basketball (@BoilerBall) March 12, 2024

Earlier this season, Edey became the program's all-time leading rebounding. He's now just 41 points away from becoming Purdue's all-time leading scorer.

Along with his Big Ten honors, Edey also has a chance to be the first player since Bill Walton in 197-72 to win back-to-back national player of the year honors.

The only thing Edey has not done at Purdue is win a national title.

Last year, the Boilermakers became just the second team in NCAA history to lose a first-round NCAA Tournament game as a No. 1 seed. Now they're hoping to follow in the footsteps of the first team to lose to a No. 16 seed.

The Virginia Cavaliers won the national title in 2018-19, just one year after they became were shocked by UMBC.

Purdue, the No. 3 team in the country this year, has a real chance to earn another top seed in the Big Dance.

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