Overseas showing may be just part of Zach Edey's 'big jump'
Long before Zach Edey departed Purdue's campus, crow-barring his 7-foot-4 body into an airplane seat to try out for Canada's national teams, the Boilermaker sophomore had already begun showing signs of considerable progress following a stunningly successful freshman year.
Because of that trend line, nothing Edey did at an international level through late June and into early July surprised him all that much, he says.
"I'm a person who draws my confidence from my work and before I left I was working like crazy," Edey said Tuesday following his first workout back at Purdue. "I was in the gym five times a week trying to separate myself, get better and just make a big jump next season. I had a lot of confidence going into the tournament just because of my work, that I knew what I'd done and put in."
While Edey tried out for Canada's Olympic team — with a spot on its 19-and-under FIBA World Cup team hanging In the balance as a consolation prize of sorts — expecting success, no one could have expected what came next.
But that's been sort of the story of Edey's young basketball career.
No one could have foreseen a player who'd barely played the game relative to his peers coming to Purdue would emerge immediately at the NCAA level as a budding standout. He played a more prominent role at Purdue than he played for his prep school a year before, or his AAU team prior to that.
Continuing his rapid emergence, the Toronto native very nearly made Canada's Olympic qualifying team, a roster loaded with NBA players. He was named an alternate, an honor unto itself for a player with his whole career still out in front of him and plenty more opportunities, most likely, to make that Olympic roster.
Really, though, the World Cup team probably represented a better developmental opportunity. Instead of sitting on the bench for the Olympic team, Edey starred for Canada's 19-and-under team.
He was a force in Latvia, leading Canada to a bronze medal and earning a place alongside college teammate Jaden Ivey of the U.S. on the five-man all-tournament team. America's Chet Holmgren and France's Victor Wembanyama also made that team. They might be the No. 1 picks in the 2022 and 2023 NBA drafts, respectively.
Edey averaged better than 15 points and 14 rebounds and clearly made a national name for himself.
That's momentum that'll carry over into a sophomore season in which much will be expected of Purdue.
"Just being able to go in and do the things I'm doing, it puts some perspective on it. I'm young. The guys I'm playing against (during Olympic try-outs) are way older than me," said Edey, who just turned 19 in May. "When you're (playing) it doesn't really matter, but when you're playing guys your own age and you're able to have that experience, it gives you confidence that I must be doing something right because I went from being ranked as one of the quote-unquote worst people in my age group to going into a tournament with my age group and dominating. It gives me a lot of confidence to keep working and keep doing the things I've been doing."
Now, the focus circles back to his upcoming season at Purdue. The Boilermakers are filthy rich at center again, with returning first-team All-Big Ten pick and honorable-mention All-American Trevion Williams returning as well.
Edey's breakout performance overseas, though, was just a step in the upward trajectory he was already riding during the spring.
During his first pandemic-free off-season at the college level, his work ethic has been lauded around Purdue's program. Part of the yield has been improved quickness, quick being relative for a player so large, but an attribute that showed up in his rebounding success in Latvia and can certainly help him defensively come November.
Offensively, he's been working on his back-to-the-basket scoring, being more patient and incorporating more than just the basics he could so regularly rely on last season.
While it's not likely to be a meaningful part of his game any time soon, Edey made a bunch of three-pointers during a shooting drill on Tuesday.
"I've just been working on my body a lot, and working on my skills, trying to make as big a jump as I can," Edey said.
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