College basketball rankings: Purdue star Zach Edey on verge of consecutive National Player of the Year honors
Edey's No. 15 was hung from the rafters inside Mackey Arena on Sunday after a win over Wisconsin
By
Gary Parrish
•
1 min read
It's not common for a player to have his jersey retired by a university while he's still playing college basketball. But you know what else isn't common? A player winning the Wooden Award in consecutive years. And Zach Edey is on the verge of doing that. So if anybody ever deserved to be honored in the way Purdue's star was honored Sunday afternoon, with his No. 15 being hung in the rafters inside Mackey Arena following a 78-70 victory over Wisconsin, Edey is probably that guy.
"It's real cool," he said following the ceremony. "I had all my friends here from Toronto for like the first time. It's my last game in Mackey."
Indeed, it was.
Next up: The Big Ten Tournament.
Purdue remains No. 1 in Monday morning's updated CBS Sports Top 25 And 1 daily college basketball rankings for the 20th straight day based on a body of work featuring a national-best 19-3 record inside the first two quadrants that's highlighted by a national-best nine wins over schools ranked in the top 25 of the NET. No matter what happens between now and Selection Sunday, the Boilermakers will be a No. 1 seed in the NCAA Tournament for the second straight year. The only question is whether they'll also be the No. 1 overall seed in the NCAA Tournament for the first time in school history. Ultimately, it'll either be Purdue, UConn or Houston. Nobody else has a shot.
Similarly, nobody else besides Edey has a shot to win the National Player of the Year race following his latest overwhelming performance. The 7-foot-4 center got 25 points, 14 rebounds, three assists and three blocks in the regular-season finale and is now averaging a career-high 24.2 points, 11.7 rebounds and a career-high 2.2 blocks per game while shooting 61.9% from the field. Simply put, Edey was the unanimous NPOY last season, and he's having a better year for a better team this season. That's why there's no sensible case for starting a NPOY ballot with any other name, and why Edey will soon be the fist back-to-back Wooden Award winner since Virginia's Ralph Sampson did it in 1982 and 1983.
Top 25 And 1 rankings
Biggest Movers
Rk | Teams | Chg | Rcrd | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 |  | Zach Edey finished with 25 points and 14 rebounds in Sunday's 78-70 win over Wisconsin. The Boilermakers are the No. 1 seed in the Big Ten Tournament. | -- | 11-1 |
| 2 |  | Alex Karaban finished with 16 points and two steals in Saturday's 74-60 win at Providence. The Huskies are the No. 1 seed in the Big East Tournament. | -- | 12-1 |
| 3 |  | Jamal Shead finished with 13 points and eight assists in Saturday's 76-46 win over Kansas. The Cougars are the No. 1 seed in the Big 12 Tournament. | -- | 11-1 |
| 4 |  | Cormac Ryan finished with 31 points and two rebounds in Saturday's 84-79 win at Duke. The Tar Heels are the No. 1 seed in the ACC Tournament. | -- | 12-1 |
| 5 |  | Santiago Vescovi was 0 of 5 from the field in Saturday's 85-81 loss to Kentucky. The Vols are the No. 1 seed in the SEC Tournament. | -- | 9-3 |
| 6 |  | Milan Momcilovic was 0 of 2 from the field in Saturday's 65-58 loss at Kansas State. The Cyclones are the No. 2 seed in the NCAA Tournament. | -- | 12-0 |
| 7 |  | Baylor Scheierman finished with 18 points and six assists in Saturday's 69-67 win at Villanova. The Bluejays are the No. 2 seed in the Big East Tournament. | -- | 8-5 |
| 8 |  | Caleb Love was 1 of 10 from the field in Saturday's 78-65 loss at USC. The Wildcats are the No. 1 seed in the Pac-12 Tournament. | -- | 12-0 |
| 9 |  | RayJ Dennis had four turnovers in Saturday's 78-68 loss at Texas Tech. The Bears are the No. 3 seed in the NCAA Tournament. | -- | 9-2 |
| 10 |  | Oso Ighodaro finished with 24 points and five rebounds in Saturday's 86-80 win at Xavier. The Golden Eagles are the No. 3 seed in the Big East Tournament. | -- | 5-8 |
| 11 |  | Great Osobor finished with 21 points and 12 rebounds in Saturday's 87-85 win over New Mexico. The Aggies are the No. 1 seed in the Mountain West Tournament. | -- | 10-1 |
| 12 |  | Jeremy Roach was 3 of 12 from the field in Saturday's 84-79 loss to Duke. The Blue Devils are the No. 2 seed in the ACC Tournament. | -- | 11-1 |
| 13 |  | Denver Jones finished with 21 points and three assists in Saturday's 92-78 win over Georgia. The Tigers are the No. 4 seed in the SEC Tournament. | -- | 8-4 |
| 14 |  | Spencer Johnson finished with 14 points and 10 rebounds in Saturday's 85-71 win over Oklahoma State. The Cougars are the No. 5 seed in the Big 12 Tournament. | -- | 12-1 |
| 15 |  | Johnny Furphy was 2 of 9 from the field in Saturday's 76-46 loss at Houston. The Jayhawks are the No. 6 seed in the Big 12 Tournament. | -- | 10-3 |
| 16 |  | Terrence Shannon Jr. finished with 25 points and three rebounds in Sunday's 73-61 win at Iowa. The Illini are the No. 2 seed in the Big Ten Tournament. | -- | 9-3 |
| 17 |  | Reed Sheppard finished with 27 points and six rebounds in Saturday's 85-81 win at Tennessee. The Wildcats are the No. 2 seed in the SEC Tournament. | -- | 9-4 |
| 18 |  | DaRon Holmes II finished with 23 points and 10 rebounds in Saturday's 91-86 win over VCU. The Flyers are the No. 3 seed in the Atlantic 10 Tournament. | -- | 9-4 |
| 19 |  | Jarod Lucas finished with 26 points and three rebounds in Saturday's 75-65 win over UNLV. The Wolf Pack are the No. 2 seed in the Mountain West Conference Tournament. | -- | 9-3 |
| 20 |  | B.J. Mack finished with 25 points and two blocks in Saturday's 93-89 win at Mississippi State. The Gamecocks are the No. 5 seed in the SEC Tournament. | -- | 8-4 |
| 21 |  | Mark Sears finished with 22 points and six assists in Saturday's 92-88 in over Arkansas. The Crimson Tide are the No. 3 seed in the SEC Tournament. | -- | 9-3 |
| 22 |  | Graham Ike finished with 24 points and 10 rebounds in Saturday's 70-57 win at Saint Mary's. The Zags are the No. 2 seed in the West Coast Conference Tournament. | -- | 12-1 |
| 23 |  | Jaylen Wells was 3 of 13 from the field in Thursday's 74-68 loss to Washington. The Cougars are the No. 2 seed in the Pac-12 Tournament. | -- | 5-8 |
| 24 |  | Roddie Anderson III finished with 16 points and six rebounds in Friday's 79-77 win at San Diego State. The Broncos are the No. 3 seed in the Mountain West Conference Tournament. | -- | 8-4 |
| 25 |  | Pop Isaacs finished with 20 points and five rebounds in Saturday's 78-68 win over Baylor. The Red Raiders are the No. 4 seed in the Big 12 Tournament. | -- | 9-3 |
| 26 |  | Vladislav Goldin finished with 21 points and 12 rebounds in Saturday's 92-84 win over Memphis. The Owls are the No. 2 seed in the AAC Tournament. | -- | 8-5 |
