Tag: Zach Edey

Zach Edey, Andre Jackson and the top-10 stay-or-go college decisions in the 2023 NBA Draft

Could the consensus National Player of the Year return to school?

The deadline to apply to become an early-entry candidate for the 2023 NBA Draft has passed, and several prospects soon have tough decisions to make.

Some of the most notable players in college basketball, like Purdue’s Zach Edey and UConn’s Andre Jackson Jr., declared for the draft while retaining their collegiate eligibility.

NBA draft prospects will have a more clear picture of their potential trajectory after the G League Elite Camp (May 13-14) and the NBA Draft Combine (May 15-21) in Chicago.

Once players have considered their feedback from the pre-draft process, all those who are “testing the waters” for the 2023 NBA Draft have until May 31 to withdraw from the early entry list if they wish to play in the NCAA next season.

They can also wait until June 12 to fully withdraw from the draft if they wish to play outside the NCAA (e.g. NBG League Ignite, Overtime Elite, or for an international team) while retaining their eligibility for the 2024 NBA Draft.

Below are the most interesting prospects who have decisions to make that could highly impact both the 2023 NBA Draft and the 2023-23 NCAA men’s college basketball season.

Some data was pulled from our friends at Cerebro Sports — you can create a free account to evaluate player performance across all levels globally.

2023 NBA Mock Draft 3.0: Projections for every pick post-March Madness

Rookie Wire took a look at where the next draft class stands following the NCAA Tournament.

The NBA pre-draft process is in full swing as prospects around the world prepare to transition to the next level.

Teams around the league will begin hosting private workouts in the coming weeks as they finalize their draft boards. There will be various pro days on the radar and, of course, the draft combine and G League Elite Camp next month in Chicago, Illinois.

Underclassmen have until April 23 to declare for the draft. Several notable players have already decided to return to school, including Kyle Filipowski, Harrison Ingram, Baylor Scheierman and Kel’el Ware. Others are still mulling over their decisions.

Related: Key dates for NBA draft, combine, lottery and deadlines

With players still in the process of making decisions, some prospects were excluded from this mock draft because they are projected to return to school next season. However, most players projected to be drafted have already announced their decisions.

Rookie Wire took a look at where the draft stands following the NCAA Tournament. It is important to note that team needs were not necessarily taken into account with each pick. The projections are rather a look at where each individual player stands at this point of the process.

Note: The order of the draft was pulled from Tankathon as of April 14. The draft will have only 58 picks this year because the Bulls and 76ers were stripped of their second-round picks by the NBA due to tampering violations.

CBB Roundup: Recapping a busy last 24 hours in college basketball

It’s been a busy last 24 hours in college basketball, here’s what you may have missed.

It’s been an incredibly busy last 24 hours in college athletics and especially college basketball. While coaching searches and hires have grabbed the headlines. After a busy Wednesday that saw nearly a double-digit amount of head coaching jobs be fulfilled, Thursday was filled with press conferences, assistant coaching hires, and more.

Because of all that, quite a few notable pieces of news have gone under the radar. From transfer portal additions, to potential NBA rule changes, and awards. There’s been a lot that has happened over the last day – here’s just a select few updates.

The first storyline that flied under the radar is that FAU head coach Dusty May isn’t planning on leaving Boca Raton anytime soon. The former Indiana assistant according to Matt Noralnder of CBS Sports, is expected to sign a long-term contract with FAU that would keep him in Boca Raton for the foreseeable future.

In his fifth season with the Owls, May has led the program to a 35-3 overall record including an 18-2 record in Conference-USA play. The Owls entered the NCAA Tournament as a No. 9 seed in the East Region and have made a Cinderella run to the Final Four defeating Memphis, Farleigh Dickinson, Tennessee, and Kansas State in the process. During the last few weeks multiple schools have shown interest in May but with the Owls deep run have eventually ended up looking elsewhere.

 

Zach Edey, Drew Timme headline finalists for Naismith Men’s Player of the Year

Edey and Timme were among the four men’s finalists for the Naismith Trophy, the award given to the top player in the country.

Purdue junior Zach Edey and Gonzaga senior Drew Timme on Tuesday were among the four players named finalists for the Naismith Men’s Player of the Year award.

Edey, the Big Ten Player of the Year, averaged 22.3 points, 12.9 rebounds, 2.1 blocks and 1.5 assists with the Boilermakers. He became the first player in history to record 750 points, 400 rebounds, 70 blocks and 50 assists in a season.

Timme was named the West Coast Conference Player of the Year for the second straight season after averaging 21.1 points, 7.3 rebounds, 3.2 assists and one block. He became the Zags’ all-time leading scorer this season after finishing with 2,259 points.

Joining Edey and Timme as finalists are Indiana senior Trayce Jackson-Davis and Kansas senior Jalen Wilson. Jackson-Davis was a consensus first-team All-American and Wilson was named the Big 12 Player of the Year.

The four finalists emerged from a group of 10 semifinalists and were selected by a panel featuring journalists, current and former head coaches, former winners and conference commissioners.

The award will be announced on April 2 in Houston, Texas.

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The Purdue whiteboard sure looks like someone punched a giant hole through it

Purdue learned the true meaning of the word upset.

While everyone loves the thrill of victory, nothing quite stings like the agony of defeat. Purdue learned this lesson the hard way during March Madness.

As a No. 1 seed who lost to the No. 16 seed Fairleigh Dickinson in the first round of the NCAA tournament in the East Region, the Boilermakers learned the true meaning of the word upset on Friday evening.

After the game, as FDU celebrated their historic victory, it certainly seems as if someone was very angry in the Purdue locker room and may have it out on an innocent whiteboard.

WISH TV’s Angela Moryan has photos of the aftermath:

As a No. 1 seed like Purdue was, it would obviously be frustrating for anyone on the team or the staff to lose to a No. 16 seed like FDU.

But the damage done to the whiteboard looks like it took more than just a single move. This probably needed several moments of real impact before eventually looking like that.

Purdue has now lost to a No. 16 seed, a No. 15 seed and a No. 13 seed in the past three NCAA tournaments. That is… not great!

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Fairleigh Dickinson coach Tobin Anderson was brilliant for correctly predicting a Purdue upset

HE CALLED HIS SHOT.

No. 16 Fairleigh Dickinson pulled off perhaps the biggest upset in March Madness history, defeating No. 1 Purdue in the opening round of the NCAA tournament.

This victory will go down in history books for college basketball, as the No. 16 seeds were 1-150 against No. 1 seeds in the men’s tournament heading into this game. While it was huge for everyone, this looked was an especially historic win for first-year FDU head coach Tobin Anderson.

Before the game, fans saw a video of Anderson telling his team the more he had a chance to watch Purdue, the more he became convinced his team could beat them.

While the opposing players on Purdue found his comments disrespectful, now the FDU coach looks brilliant for boldly declaring such confidence:

Anderson is a former Division II coach who won six East Coast Conference titles at St. Thomas Aquinas College in New York between 2016 and 2022.

While he searched for a head coaching gig, he was told that he needed to get hired as an assistant coach for a Division I team before he was offered a head coaching vacancy.

But he is clearly used to shocking the world: He got the gig at FDU. While they had just four wind last season, he led them to the tournament during his first year on the job.

After the game, Anderson elaborated on why he said it:

“I just trust our guys, I have faith in our guys … We just have faith in what we do. Our guys are so tough and so competitive. I’ll do a better job in this locker room speech than the last one … It was the right message, it made the wrong audience. But listen: I love our guys. They’re tough, they’re gritty, they play their tails off.”

FDU will play the winner of Memphis – Florida Atlantic. We’ll see if we can get another prediction from Anderson about how his team would stack up vs. either squad.

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Texas G Marcus Carr deemed one of the top players in the NCAA Tournament

A huge reason for Texas’ success this year has been the play of senior point guard Marcus Carr. 

Texas basketball is enjoying one of its best seasons in recent memory. The Longhorns earned a No. 2 seed entering the NCAA Tournament, boasting a 26-8 record and a Big 12 tournament championship.

A massive reason for Texas’ success this year has been the play of senior point guard Marcus Carr.

Carr took a significant step forward in leading the Longhorns offense in his second season in Austin. He is averaging 15.9 points and over four assists per game.

USA TODAY Sports mentions Carr along with Purdue’s Zach Edey and Alabama’s Brandon Miller, as one of the best players entering March Madness.

The Longhorns have a balanced attack but will go the way of Carr, who can score but also loves to set up teammates. Texas hasn’t been to a Final Four since 2003, and did it then with the play of another stellar point guard, T.J. Ford – their stats, by the way, are eerily similar.

Carr opted to return to Texas for his final season with the goal of winning a national championship for the Horns. He now has Texas in a great position to make a deep tournament run.

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Zach Edey, Trayce Jackson-Davis headline AP All-America first team

Edey and Jackson-Davis headlined the players named to the Associated Press All-America first team.

Purdue junior Zach Edey and Indiana senior Trayce Jackson-Davis headlined the players named to the Associated Press All-America first team on Tuesday.

Edey, the Big Ten Player of the Year, was the only player to appear on all 58 first-team ballots after averaging 22.3 points, 12.8 points, 2.1 blocks and 1.5 assists with the Boilermakers. He ranks sixth in the country in scoring, second in rebounding and first in double-doubles (26).

Jackson-Davis became the first Hoosier since Victor Oladipo in 2013 to earn first-team honors after averaging 20.8 points, 10.9 rebounds, 4.1 assists and 2.7 blocks. He ranks 16th nationally in scoring, 13th in rebounding and sixth in blocks (82).

Joining Edey and Jackson-Davis on the first team are Kansas forward Jalen Wilson, Houston guard Marcus Sasser and Alabama forward Brandon Miller, who was the only freshman to appear on the list.

AP named Jaime Jaquez Jr. (UCLA), Oscar Tshiebwe (Kentucky), Drew Timme (Gonzaga), Azuolas Tubelis (Arizona) and Jalen Pickett (Penn State) to the second team. On the third team were Markquis Nowell and Keyontae Johnson (Kansas State), Tyler Kolek (Marquette), Kris Murray (Iowa) and Armando Bacot (North Carolina).

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Penn State’s Big Ten Tourney run ends in championship game

Furious rally comes up short for Penn State vs. Purdue in Big Ten championship game

Penn State had one of the most exciting March runs in recent program history. Coming into the tournament, they were firmly on the NCAA Tournament bubble.

They put themselves into the tournament with wins over Illinios and Northwestern on their way to their semifinal appearance. But they weren’t satisfied by just playing in the game. They beat Indiana to play in their second ever conference championship game and cement themselves in NCAA Tournament.

That run ended on Sunday after falling to Purdue 65-67.

Penn State made a flurry at the end of the game to come within one possession and a shot to win the game. They failed to get a shot off as [autotag]Camren Wynter[/autotag] was called for a travel before the shot attempt.

It was going to be a tall task to beat the Boilermakers who had beat them twice during the regular season. The best team in the Big Ten all season, Purdue is also expected to be a one seed when the bracket is released.

Penn State hit their first two buckets of the game to lead 4-0, but missed their next six shots. This got them into an early hole and they trailed by their largest margin of the entire tournament.

The Nittany Lions were fighting an uphill battle the entire first half as they tried to stay in the game. They were able to keep the margin close and went into halftime down 27-35.

The uphill battled continued all second half as Purdue kept pounding them in the paint and on the offensive glass. The Boilermakers pulled down 13 offensive rebounds and kept possessions alive they ultimately capitalized on.

With six and a half minutes to go, it looked like Purdue was going to run away with the game. They were up 17 points and had Penn State out of sorts.

But Penn State would not go away. They started chipping away at the lead with basket after a basket from their seniors.

After a dunk from freshman [autotag]Evan Mahaffey[/autotag] with just under three minutes remaining, Penn State trailed 58-64.

[autotag]Jalen Pickett[/autotag] cut the lead to four points after two made free throws, but Big Ten Player of the Year, [autotag]Zach Edey[/autotag], made a layup through a triple team to put the lead back up to six.

After [autotag]Andrew Funk[/autotag] missed a three, Purdue was fouled and on free throw line looking to put the game away for good.

Freshman guard [autotag]Fletcher Loyer[/autotag] missed both free throws and Penn State senior guard [autotag]Myles Dread[/autotag] hit a three to cut the lead to three points.

The ending got crazy after Purdue turned the ball over in the backcourt on the steal from Mahaffey. Wynter hit a layup to unbelievably cut the lead to one point with seven seconds remaining.

Loyer was on the line again for Purdue. He made the first one but missed the second giving Penn State an opportunity to win or tie the game.

They advanced the ball into the front court and called a timeout to set up the potential game-winning shot.

When Pickett inbounded the ball, it was tipped and created a scramble play to get up a shot.

Dread came up with the ball and found Wynter who has hit clutch shots for Penn State all season. He pump-faked once and then shuffled his feet when trying to get a clean look.

Travel. Game over.

[autotag]Seth Lundy[/autotag] led the Nittany Lions with 19 points and 8 rebounds. Wynter added 14 points and Pickett finished with 11.

Probable NCAA Player of the Year, Edey, finished with a game-high 30 points and 13 rebounds. [autotag]David Jenkins Jr.[/autotag] and [autotag]Mason Gillis[/autotag] joined him in double figures with 11 and 10 points respectively.

It was definitely a tough loss to stomach for Penn State and all its seniors. The magical postseason tournament run ended in heart breaking fashion.

But what a run it was!

Head coach [autotag]Micah Shrewsberry[/autotag] did an excellent job getting all the players to buy in and believe they could make this run. After coming into the tournament with questions about their March Madness hopes, they left no doubt they are a tournament team.

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Penn State holds off Indiana to advance to Big Ten Championship game

Jalen Pickett leads Penn State over Indiana and into the Big Ten championship game

It’s been a magical ride for Penn State in the Big Ten Tournament so far. After beating Illinois and Northwestern in close games, they faced their toughest test on Saturday against Indiana.

Indiana came into the tournament with hopes of winning it for the first time in program history. Penn State had those same aspirations, although they were certainly a longshot to pull it off.

It was Penn State who prevailed in the semifinal, winning 77-73, advancing to their second ever championship game.

The Nittany Lions got off to a slow start early and was down by six points four minutes into the game. After the media timeout, Penn State went on an 8-0 run to take a 14-12 lead after a [autotag]Myles Dread[/autotag] three.

They never relinquished their lead in the first half was dominating the game.

In the previous two games of the tournament, [autotag]Jalen Pickett[/autotag] had been very quiet on the offensive end. He wasn’t hitting his scoring averages and looked to be running out of gas.

He put that notion to bed early in this game. Pickett scored 13 points in the first half and was a big reason why Penn State was explosive on the offensive end.

They went into the locker room leading 34-26 at halftime.

After the Nittany Lions stifled Indiana’s offense in the first half, it was only a matter of time before the Hoosiers made their run.

Penn State did a good in the early minutes of the second half, extending their lead to 10 points. But right around the 17 minute mark, the Indiana run started.

Indiana tied the game at 47 with just over ten minutes left after a big [autotag]Trayce Jackson-Davis[/autotag] dunk. It looked like the momentum was swinging towards the Hoosiers and the game was getting away from Penn State.

The seniors for Penn State took over the game. Pickett made a layup, [autotag]Andrew Funk[/autotag] buried a three and [autotag]Camren Wynter[/autotag] assisted freshman [autotag]Kebba Njie[/autotag] for a dunk during their immediate 7-0 run.

From that point on, it was all Penn State. It looked like Funk put a dagger into Indiana when he drilled a 30 foot three point shot as the shot clock was expiring. That shot put them up by 11 points with four minutes left in the game.

But like all Penn State fans know, it’s not a Penn State basketball game unless it’s a nail biter.

With two minutes remaining in the game and the Nittany Lions up 13 points, it looked like the game was over.

That was certainly not the case.

Four turnovers and missed free throws kept Indiana in the game. They clawed at the lead possession by possession, capitalizing on all the late game mistakes given to them.

With 33 seconds left in the game, it was all of a sudden Penn State winning 74-73. [autotag]Seth Lundy[/autotag] was fouled and hit two clutch free throws to put them up three points. Indiana’s Big Ten Freshman of the Year, J[autotag]alen Hood-Schifino[/autotag], missed the game tying three and Nittany Lions players, coaches and fans let out a loud exhale in unison.

Pickett finished with a game high 28 points while adding eight rebounds and four assists. Lundy was the only other Penn State player in double figures with 16 points.

It was going to be difficult for Penn State to stifle consensus All-American Jackson-Davis. He finished with 24 points, 10 rebounds and seven assists. They did a good job on Hood-Schifino holding him to 11 points on 4-13 shooting.

Penn State now advances to the Big Ten Championship game for the second time in school history. In their only previous appearance, they lost to one seed Ohio State during the 2010-11 season.

This is the third time a double digit seed has made the championship game. Illinois did it twice in 1999 and 2008.

They’ll be facing a one seed again in Purdue who has already beaten the Nittany Lions in convincing fashion twice this season. Probable Player of the Year winner [autotag]Zach Edey[/autotag] has been a major problem for Penn State to contain and will have their hands full on Sunday.

The championship game will tip at 3:30pm ET on CBS.

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