Is #5 Purdue really a national title contender? Definitely. They are among the favorites in the field of 68. If you are doing any March Madness betting this season, you’ll see the Boilermakers priced among the teams with the top five more favorable odds of winning it all. And it is all about Zach Edey, who is the countryโs best individual player.
He’s not just having one of the best seasons in Purdue history, or even Big Ten history.
Zach Edey, the 2022-23 edition, will go down as one of the best seasons for an individual player, ever. Edey has five 30-10 games this season.
Over the course of the past decade and a half, the only power conference players with more are Dukeโs Marvin Bagley (2017-18) and Oklahomaโs Blake Griffin (2008-09).
With 18 double doubles in 23 games, he is ranked No. 1 in KenPomโs Player of the Year ratings, and by a very wide margin.
The space between Edey and the No. 2 player, Kansasโ Jalen Wilson is the same as the distance between Wilson and the No. 40 ranking in the Player of the Year ratings.
Paul M. Banks is the owner/manager ofย The Sports Bank.ย Heโs also theย author of โTransatlantic Passage: How the English Premier League Redefined Soccer in America,โ andย โNo, I Canโt Get You Free Tickets: Lessons Learned From a Life in the Sports Media Industry.โ
Heโs written for numerous publications, including theย New York Daily News,ย Sports Illustratedย and theย Chicago Tribune.ย He regularly appears onย NTD Newsย andย WGN News Now.ย Follow the websiteย onย Twitterย andย Instagram.
