Purdue’s Edey highlights Wooden top 50 list

Jeff Borzello, ESPN Staff WriterNov 14, 2023, 01:30 PM ET

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• Basketball recruiting insider.
• Signed up with ESPN in 2014.
• Graduate of University of Delaware.Purdue star Zach Edey, the ruling

Wood Award winner seeking to end up being only the 2nd two-time winner in its history, topped the award’s Preseason Top 50 list announced Tuesday.Edey, a 7-foot-4 center from Toronto, withdrew from the NBA draft on due date day last May to return to the Boilermakers for his senior season. He was the perceived front-runner a year ago for basically the entire season, establishing his candidateship at the Phil Knight Legacy in late November and finishing the season balancing 22.3 points, 12.9 rebounds and 2.1 blocks.He played simply 44 minutes in Purdue’s first two games, blowout wins over Samford and Morehead State, averaging 17.0 points, 9.5 rebounds and 3.5 blocks. In Purdue’s very first test of the season Monday versus Xavier, Edey played 33 minutes and chose 28 points, 11 rebounds and 4 blocks.The last player to win the Wooden Award in back-to-back seasons was Virginia’s Ralph Sampson, who took home both the 1982 and 1983 awards.Outside of Edey, three other big males are likely to be primary contenders for the award. Kansas’ Hunter Dickinson transferred into the program in the spring after 3 seasons at Michigan, where he averaged 18.5 points and 9.0 rebounds last season. Duke’s Kyle Filipowski balanced 15.1 points and 8.9 rebounds last season, and simply had 25 points and eight rebounds versus Arizona recently. On The Other Hand, North Carolina’s Armando Bacot is balancing 23.5 points and 16.5 rebounds through the Tar Heels’very first two games.The list of players also consists of the leading 3 NBA prospects in high school basketball, according to ESPN’s Jonathan Givony: USC’s Isaiah Collier, Kentucky’s Justin Edwards and

UConn’s Donovan Clingan.Kansas and Duke– the leading 2 groups in the AP preseason top 25– and Creighton lead the way with three players each on the list, while North Carolina, UConn, USC, Houston, Gonzaga, Marquette and Miami have 2 players apiece.The complete list of the Wood Award preseason top 50: Max Abmas, Texas Trex Alexander, Creighton Armando Bacot, North Carolina Oumar Ballo, Arizona Reece Beekman, Virginia Adem Bona, UCLA Johni Broome, Auburn Boo Buie, Northwestern Donovan Clingan, UConn Isaiah

• Collier, USC L.J. Cryer, Houston Tristan da Silva, Colorado N’Faly Dante, Oregon Johnell Davis, Florida Atlantic RJ Davis,

• North Carolina Tucker

• DeVries, Drake Hunter Dickinson, Kansas Zach Edey, Purdue Justin Edwards, Kentucky Boogie

• Ellis, USC Kyle Filipowski, Duke PJ Hall, Clemson Dajuan Harris Jr., Kansas Daron Holmes II, Dayton Bryce

• Hopkins, Providence Graham Ike, Gonzaga Kam Jones, Marquette Ryan Kalkbrenner, Creighton Tyler Kolek,

• Marquette Aidan Mahaney,

• Saint Mary’s Kevin McCullar Jr., Kansas

  Judah Mintz, Syracuse Justin Moore

  , Villanova Ryan Nembhard, Gonzaga Tristen Newton,

  UConn Norchad Omier

• , Miami Nijel Pack, Miami Tyrese

• Proctor, Duke Jeremy

• Roach, Duke Baylor

• Scheierman, Creighton Terrence Shannon Jr., Illinois Jamal Shead, Houston Tolu Smith, Mississippi State Joel Soriano, St. John

• ‘s Isaiah Stevens, Colorado State Wade Taylor IV, Texas A&M Santiago Vescovi,

  Tennessee Tyson Walker, Michigan

• State Ja’Kobe Walter, Baylor Jahmir Young, Maryland