Candid Coaches: Will Zach Edey win national player of the year in back-to-back seasons?

rewrite this content material with complete duration and stay HTML tags CBS Sports faculty basketball insiders Gary Parrish and Matt Norlander spent a month surveying 100-plus Division I males’s basketball coaches for our annual Candid Coaches collection. They polled throughout the recreation’s panorama: some of the greatest names in faculty basketball, but additionally small-school assistants in low-major leagues. Coaches agreed to percentage unfiltered reviews in change for anonymity. We requested them 10 questions and are wrapping up our effects this week.In 1958, The Sporting News was once the first group at hand out a national player of the year award in faculty basketball. In the resulting years, 5 extra vote casting homes emerged that gave faculty basketball six historically identified national player of the year awards: The Naismith Award, The Associated Press, The Wooden Award, The National Association of Basketball Coaches, The Oscar Robertson Award and Sporting News. In the six-plus many years since, 12 males’s basketball avid gamers have repeated as national player of the year via successful the honor from one of the six NPOY outfits in back-to-back years. In some years, there’s overlap as a result of one player took house some NPOY awards, whilst any other snagged one from a unique group that very same season.Here’s the listing:• Oscar Robertson, Cincinnati (’57-58, ’58-59, ’59-60)• Jerry Lucas, Ohio State (’60-61, ’61-62)• Bill Bradley, Princeton (’63-64, ’64-65)• Lew Alcindor, UCLA (’66-67, ’67-68, ’68-69)• Pete Maravich, LSU (’68-69, ’69-70)• Bill Walton, UCLA (’71-72, ’72-73, ’73-74)• David Thompson, NC State (’73-74, ’74-75)• Mark Aguirre, DePaul (’79-80, ’80-81)• Ralph Sampson, Virginia (’80-81, ’81-82, ’82-83)• Michael Jordan, UNC (’82-83, ’83-84)• Jay Williams, Duke (’00-01, ’01-02)• Luke Garza, Iowa (’19-20, ’20-21) Because faculty basketball has no Heisman Trophy analogue, the player of the year scenario in hoops can every so often get sticky. Shane Battier gained 5 of the six NPOY awards in 2001 … however his teammate, Jay Williams, gained the NABC’s model of it that season, fighting the sweep and permitting Williams to technically cross back-to-back after he gained all six in 2002. Obi Toppin gained 5 of the six in 2020, however Sporting News opted for Garza, which then gave the Iowa large guy back-to-back allowance in 2021 after he swept all six. If you are in search of the closing particular person to win NPOY in back-to-back seasons in a minimum of two of the large six awards — and particularly, the maximum acclaimed ones: Naismith, Wooden and Robertson — you must return greater than 40 years. Sampson’s three-peat at Virginia was once the closing time males’s faculty basketball in reality had a no-doubt-about-it repeat national player of the year winner. So, we requested 100-plus coaches: Will Zach Edey repeat as national player of the year?   For coaches who voted no, listed here are avid gamers who gained more than one votes: Hunter Dickinson, Kyle Filipowski, Armando Bacot, Donovan Clingan, Ryan Kalkbrenner. Quotes that stood out Why Edey’s gonna do it• “Zach Edey is the most dominant force. He continues to improve and elevate his game and he should not be penalized this season for FDU’s miraculous game. If not for that, we would all be in the Zach Edey camp for player of the year.” • “I know it’s always smarter to take the field, but Edey just ran away with it last season. Purdue is going to be really, really good again. I just don’t see how he falls off. So I’ll go with Edey. But I won’t be shocked if it’s another big. Keep an eye on Filipowski.”• “Guy puts up video game numbers.”• “Zach Edey will win National Player of the Year for a second straight season unless there is voter fatigue from watching him dominate. The high-end star power at the guard spot just isn’t there and he’s the best of the bigs.” • “Edey is the most dominant force in the college game and the college rules allow him to remain dominant as a true low-post center. There is not a player in America that impacts the college game like he does night in and night out. He forces a double team on offense, is nearly impossible to blockout and completely takes away the paint defensively.”• “I think his level of production is at such a high level that, even when he doesn’t play well, his numbers are still extremely impressive and the impact he makes on winning is still very high. And they are going to have a very good year.” • “It’s hard to think of someone else winning [player of the year] over Edey. He’s the most dominant player in college basketball. Last year we played at Purdue, and everything they run goes through him. The underrated reason why I believe he has a chance to repeat is he is playing with great guards in Braden Smith and Fletcher Loyer. As freshmen they did a hell of a job playing with Edey. You’d have to imagine with another year of chemistry, Edey may be even more dominant, if that’s possible.” Why he’s going to fall quick• “History tells us no, so I’ll say no. Who wins the award? That I have no idea, but history just tells us that it won’t be Zach, so I’d take the field.”• “It’s not just having a good year. (Oscar) Tshiebwe, Kentucky had a down year. The injuries they go through and the game-planning for him will be totally different. It’s like saying Tiger Woods vs. the field. Even though you know there’s a good chance, it’s tough to go against the field.” • “Just like Edey last year, somebody not being discussed and off the radar will win it.” • “(Donovan) Clingan because he had a very high O-rating and usage on the best team in the country. He just needs to maintain that level of efficiency with more minutes and his counting stats (points and rebounds) will be player-of-the-year level. He also really impacts the game defensively. He is a very versatile player, meaning you don’t have to be married to one style with him. He makes you great in transition because of his ability to rim-run, but also he is an elite half-court player who makes others better by putting pressure on the rim in the pick-and-roll.” • “No, only because it’s very hard to win back-to-back. You have to be that much better than you were the year before.”  The takeaway  In the previous two years, Luke Garza and Oscar Tshiebwe have been the first reigning NPOYs to go back to D-I males’s faculty basketball since Tyler Hansbrough in 2008-09. None of them may upward thrust above the leisure of the recreation for a 2d instantly season. This is actually laborious to do, even if you find yourself already a dominant player. But, barring harm, I’m right here to let you know Edey’s going to do it in 2024. One important explanation why, as I detailed in a takeout piece on the 7-foot-4 Canadian colossus previous this year: He’s nonetheless beautiful new at this basketball factor. Edey rejected basketball till halfway thru his highschool occupation. And but, right here he stands as a singular powerhouse. His ascent is unusual. Edey’s abilities are nonetheless being honed. Because he is so devoted, so large and nonetheless rising as a player — and since he is doing this for one of the best possible coaches in the recreation in Matt Painter — it is putting in place for Edey to once more be the Most worthy and irreplaceable player in faculty basketball. His averages closing season: 22.3 issues, 12.9 rebounds, 2.1 blocks and 1.5 assists to pair with 60.7% taking pictures. Edey was once the first player in NCAA historical past since blocks turned into an legitimate stat to log a minimum of 750 issues, 400 rebounds, 70 blocks and 50 assists in a season. Even if his function rather decreases (laborious to peer that taking place), Purdue is poised to once more be one of the best possible groups in the nation. The desk is about for Edey to copy. The tale of Purdue’s push for March redemption will probably be one of the greatest in faculty hoops in ’23-24. How Edey handles new defensive ways tossed his manner will probably be any other. He may have long gone to the NBA and, in my opinion, would had been drafted. It’s higher that he made up our minds to go back. In coming again, he is chasing faculty basketball immortality. I feel he will get there and edges out the likes of Dickinson (who conveniently had the maximum write-in votes amongst the coaches who stated Edey would not do it), Clingan, Bacot, Filipowski, Kalkbrenner, Justin Moore, Tyler Kolek or whomever you wish to have to venture…