NCAA Tournament 2024: 5 Canadians to watch in March Madness
By Kyle Craib
Zach Edey - Purdue Boilermakers
The first name on this list should come at no surprise. The reigning Naismith College Player of the Year has not missed a step entering his senior season at Purdue. Zach Edey’s 24.4 PPG leads all NCAA players, helping his Boilermakers get back into a No. 1 seed in the tournament.
Measuring in at 7’4” and 285 lbs, Edey has become a force of nature on the interior. Along with his gaudy scoring numbers, the centre also chips in 2.2 BLK and 11.7 RPG, with the latter being third-best in the country. All together, the Torontonian has been a double-double machine this season, reaching the achievement in 24 of his 33 games. On the other side of the court, Edey is able to gift his team 4.64 extra possessions per game on the offensive glass.
Back in 2022 when Jordi Fernández officially took over the reins of the Canadian men’s national basketball team, he brought a strong vision for the future of the program with him. The first step on this journey was establishing a summer core with a goal of solidifying a roster and eliminating the uncertainty that has plagued the team in the past. Surrounded by NBA stars and seasoned veterans of international play, a 20-year-old towering centre joined the roster and never looked back.
For Canadian basketball fans, Zach Edey should soon become a household name. With the Paris 2024 Olympic Games on the horizon and Edey showing no signs of slowing down in the NCAA, the big man is poised to be a driving force of Canadian basketball for the foreseeable future.
Not bad for someone who only first picked up a basketball when he was 15 years old.
Edey’s individual accolades could fill up a page on their own, with more expected to be on the way after this season concludes, but team success still continues to evade him. Purdue has qualified for the NCAA Tournament in each of Edey’s four seasons with the program, never ranking lower than a No. 4 seed. Despite this, the Boilermakers have failed to make it past the Sweet Sixteen, falling twice in the first round over that span, including last year’s historic defeat to No. 16 ranked Fairleigh Dickinson.
Now in his final season, does Purdue finally have the surrounding pieces to achieve a deep tournament run?
When to watch? #1 Purdue faces off against #16 Gramling in the First Round on Friday, March 22, 2024 at 7:30 p.m. ET