NCAA MEN'S 2023 BASKETBALL CHAMPIONSHIP

April 1, 2023

Zach Edey

USBWA Oscar Robertson Player of the Year Press Conference

THE MODERATOR: We're here for the Oscar Robinson Player of the Year news conference. Luke DeCock.

LUKE DECOCK: It's my pleasure to announce the winner of the 2023 Oscar Robinson Trophy, awarded annually since 1959 to the outstanding player in men's college basketball. And this year's winner is Purdue forward Zach Edey, who will receive the actual trophy at our ceremony in St. Louis in two weeks.

I know Zach would prefer be in Houston under slightly different circumstances, but let that take nothing away from one of the finest individual seasons by a big man in recent history, doing things nobody has done since David Robinson, finishing sixth nationally in scoring at 22.3 points per game, second in rebounding, first in double-doubles, to go with Big Ten Player of the Year honors and the Big Ten regular season and tournament championships.

He's the second Purdue player to win the Oscar, joining Glenn Robinson in 1994. And Glenn was the "Big Dog," but I can tell you sitting up here nothing seems that big compared to Zach.

And as someone who also covers the NHL and has watched Zdeno Chára up close, I'm fascinated by what would've happened if you'd chosen hockey instead of basketball because the world needs more 7'4" defensemen.

But we're here to celebrate one of the most remarkable basketball seasons we've seen from any player at any position, Zach, congratulations, and what does it mean to you to be recognized as the best player in college basketball?

ZACH EDEY: It's great. It validates all the work I put over my three years at Purdue. It validates all the long nights I stayed when no one was watching, validates all the long nights with one of our coaches, Coach Brantley, staying two, three hours after practice, watching film with him. Ice tubbing, getting shots up.

It validates everything. Makes me obviously want to work hard, keep doubling down, just seeing where it will take me.

LUKE DECOCK: Going into the season, did you think it was something that was possible for you?

ZACH EDEY: Something that everyone always thinks about what their season could be. I had no idea going into this season what would be in store for me. I think the season could have been basically everything I hoped for, besides obviously the way it ended.

But up until that point, it was great. It was a great season. We outperformed all expectations. I was able to be a big part of that. My teammates really helped me through it. My coaches really helped me through it. My family helped me through it.

This isn't just ever -- this was never just me, this isn't my award. This is kind of -- I'm just the face of it. But there's so many good people behind me that really helped me, and I wouldn't be able to be here without them.

LUKE DECOCK: You mentioned the work you put in, but your path to this point has been so unique, where you grew up, your late sort of adoption of basketball. Does this put in perspective sort of your journey and how the sort of different route you've taken to get here?

ZACH EDEY: Yeah, kind of shows that you don't have to be forced into a sport when you're a young kid to be good at it. I think I kind of found my way. Basketball almost found me a little bit. I found my way. My path is unique, probably very different than the past winners of this award. But it was my own path, and I'm very proud of it.

Q. When you won Big Ten Player of the Year, I think you took part of the day to kind of reflect on your journey. Now that you've added a growing list of National Player of the Year honors to your résumé, how is this all sinking in for you?

ZACH EDEY: It's crazy. It doesn't even feel real sometimes. I think it's something that I'll only really be able to appreciate in a few years when I look back on it, because right now, living through it, it feels crazy. It's hard to take it all in, but it's definitely tough.

It's crazy to think of my name in the conversation of the past legends, especially at Purdue, like Glenn Robinson, John Wooden, the past men's basketball legends, and think that my name is going to be next to them, all time in history.

So it's a surreal feeling.

Q. Was there something that's happened in the last 18 months or so? You seem to make such big strides. Was there a new comfort level you found in the last season, 18 months, that really drove you? You were playing excellently before, but this year you took it to a new level, and I find sometimes you talk to players, they say that something just clicked. You may not even be able to explain it, but something was working this year, would you feel that way, or am I reading too much into it?

ZACH EDEY: I'm not sure. Obviously the game slows down a little bit as I start playing it more. Kind of when I first started college. I was going really fast. My third year in basketball. So everything was moving crazy fast. I didn't really know what to do. I was trying to hang on for dear life.

I think the more I started playing basketball, the more the game slowed down, more my understanding of the game grew, the easier the game got.

I don't think anything really clicked. I think every game I had to go out and fight for every possession. I don't think it ever really was -- I could put it on cruise control and I was good. I always had to go out there and fight.

Q. The interest in China, I know Eileen Gu, the Olympian, has had enormous success over there. Is there quite a deal of interest in China for you, and do you see potential marketing opportunities? I know I'm jumping way ahead, but what do you see?

ZACH EDEY: Yeah, I'm proud of my heritage. I'm proud to be Canadian, I'm proud to be Chinese. I'm proud of all of it. I don't look at China as a marketing opportunity, I look at it as part of my heritage, something I'm proud of, a relationship that I'm definitely into growing down the road.

Q. What's the future looking like for you? Is it the NBA draft right now, or is it another year at Purdue?

ZACH EDEY: I have no clue.

Q. Your mom was a -- tried out for the Toronto national basketball team. It didn't work out. How has it been for you to be able to live your dream and follow your steps?

ZACH EDEY: It's crazy. I tried out for the Canadian team two years in a row, and I got cut just as well. It's kind of crazy living through it, going through it.

All credit to her. She played basketball. She loved basketball, but she never forced me into playing basketball at all. She let me choose, and then basketball came to me. Now I'm able to kind of do some things that she wasn't really able to.

Q. Can you talk about the impact that Coach Painter has had on you.

ZACH EDEY: It's been great. You've kind of seen it on the court, but it's not just on the court, it's been off the court. He's helped me as a person. That's been his big thing, making not only great basketball players, but great people. I think that's something he's helped me with.

It's been incredible. Him and all the coaching staff, all the coaches I've been around. Coach Brantley really helped me. Coach Lutz recruited me. He's at Texas A&M Corpus Christie right now. He helped me in tons of ways. P.J. helped me in tons way. Our current coaches, Coach T and Coach Lusk, they helped me in tons of ways.

It's been all the coaches that have been behind me and have always supported me.

Q. Question pertaining to this is pretty much the peak an individual player can get in the college basketball sport. How do you feel this will open opportunities, and how have you felt the opportunities that you've already had and just kind of your general feeling on NIL in its current state right now?

ZACH EDEY: I'm not going to speak about NIL. I think it's a good thing to get paid. I think it can be a little bit misused sometimes. But that's not what I'm talking about.

I think, like you said, it's great to be able to be at the, like you said, peak of college basketball. But it's not like it stops from here or I can't get better from here. It's not like I can't grow from here.

I still feel like I have a lot to do, a lot to show. But it's great to be able to stand here today.

Q. It was mentioned early on about your transition from hockey to basketball. How did you start in hockey, and what was the transition and how has it helped you with your basketball season?

ZACH EDEY: I think it's kind of helped me just develop a full sports background. Like kind of have different skills from different sports that really translated over to basketball for me.

From hockey, I have big legs, a good, strong base. From baseball, I got kind of like the touch from my fingers. I can really -- like when you're pitching a fast ball, the last two fingers to touch the ball are these two, and shooting a basketball is the same.

I think my touch has naturally developed in baseball, and it really helped me in basketball. But also not being burnt out. I still love this sport. I think people that play it from a young age, they might be kind of done and over with it, but I'm still loving this sport. I'm still so excited every day to go to practice. And it's definitely made me very unique in this space.

Q. Luke mentioned you had done some things that hadn't really been seen in college basketball since David Robinson. I know Admiral is a little ahead of your time, but how much do you know about Robinson and his contributions, and what's it mean to be mentioned in the same sentence of someone who was so impactful?

ZACH EDEY: Hall of Famer. It's crazy when your name gets mentioned in the same space of other Hall of Famers. Basically did everything he could in the league. Won MVP. Won Finals, did everything. So to be able to be compared to him, it's an honor.