Zach Edey
Zach Edey capped off one of the most-statistically dominant seasons in college basketball history by winning the final piece of the National Player of the Year awards today, when the Los Angeles Athletic Club and ESPN announced that the Purdue junior center won the Wooden Award presented by Wendy's today on SportsCenter.
Edey was named the winner of the Wooden Award, becoming the first Canadian to win the Award and the first Purdue player since Glenn Robinson in 1994 to be the recipient.
Edey becomes the first Boilermaker since Glenn Robinson in 1994 to win National Player of the Year accolades. He is also the fifth Big Ten Player in the last 14 years to win the Wooden Award joining Evan Turner (2010), Trey Burke (2013), Frank Kaminsky (2015) and Luka Garza (2021).
Edey earned the Wooden Award after one of the most-dominating seasons in college basketball history. He was named a consensus first-team All-American, the second straight season that Purdue has had a consensus All-American (Jaden Ivey, 2022), after averaging 22.3 points, 12.9 rebounds, 2.1 blocks and 1.5 assists per game.
He became the first player in NCAA history (since blocks became an official NCAA stat) to record at least 750 points, 400 rebounds, 70 blocks and 50 assists in a season, ranking sixth nationally in scoring, second in rebounds, 19th in blocked shots and 21st in field goal percentage (.607), the only player in the NCAA database to rank in the top 25 of all four categories in the same season.
He finished the season ranking sixth on Purdue's single-season chart for points (757), first in rebounds (438), fifth in field goals made (290), 14th in field goal percentage (.607), first in dunks (76) and second in double-doubles (27).
He has scored in double-figures in 51 straight games, the longest streak in the country, and fourth-longest streak in school history.
For his career in 99 games, he has 1,533 points, the fourth most for a player through his junior season in school history (Carsen Edwards, Glenn Robinson, Rick Mount), with 847 rebounds, 148 blocks and 106 assists.
He finished the year with eight games of at least 30 points and 10 rebounds, the most for a major-college player in the last 20 years, and his 11 games of at least 25 points and 10 rebounds are the most for a Big Ten player in the last 20 years by four games over Luka Garza (Iowa; 7). The 438 rebounds are the fourth most by a player in Big Ten history behind three seasons by Ohio State great Jerry Lucas (1960-62).
Edey became just the second player in Big Ten history to lead the league in scoring, rebounding and field goal percentage and is one of just nine players (Blake Griffin, Ike Diogu, Antawn Jamison, Tim Duncan, Shaquille O'Neal, Bill Walton, Lew Alcindor, Gary Bradds) to lead a major-college conference in all three categories in NCAA history. Griffin was the last to do so in 2009.
Edey also earned Big Ten Player of the Year accolades after helping Purdue to a Big Ten regular-season title, a No. 1 national ranking for seven weeks and the Big Ten Tournament title.
Earlier this season, Edey joined an exclusive list of Boilermakers to win the Big Ten Player of the Year honors, joining the late Caleb Swanigan (2017), JaJuan Johnson (2011), Glenn Robinson (1994) and Steve Scheffler (1990) as winners of the league's top honor.
Caitlin Clark
Caitlin Clark, a junior guard from West Des Moines, Iowa, led the Hawkeyes to a Big Ten Tournament Championship and the National Championship game. She recorded the first triple-double in Big Ten Tournament Championship history in the win over Ohio State.
Clark eventually followed up with the first pair of back-to-back 40-point performances in the Elite 8 and national semifinal, becoming the first player in Division I men’s or women’s basketball to accomplish the feat. In the National Semifinal against No. 1 overall seed, South Carolina, Clark registered 41 points, eight assists and six boards.
She led her team to its first-ever NCAA Championship game and helped post the Hawkeye’s most wins in a single season. During the NCAA Tournament, she broke the NCAA single-tournament records for most 3-point FG made (24) and most points scored (191). This season, she is the only player in the nation with 1,000 points, 240 rebounds, 310 assists and 45 steals.
Overall, Clark became the first player in Division I women’s basketball history to record more than 1,000 points and 300 assists in the same season and was fastest Division I player (men’s or women’s) to reach 1,500 career points over the last 20 seasons. She was a 2021-22 Wooden Award All American and the first women's Wooden Award winner from the University of Iowa.
Off the court, she is a two-time First Team Academic All-American and was named the 2023 CSC Academic All-America of the Year.