Watch: In high school, Zach Edey was raw and unproven but flashed his potential

Zach Edey has Purdue heading to the Final Four, having put together another outstanding performance over the weekend in the NCAA Tournament. March Madness has been truly maddening for opposing defenses trying to stop the Purdue center.

All of which makes Edey’s high school recruitment a bit of its own madness. As a center at IMG Academy (Bradenton, Florida) in the class of 2020, Edey was certainly under-recruited based on his eventual output for Purdue.

On Sunday, Edey scored 40 points as Purdue booked their ticket to the Final Four with a win over Tennessee. He is averaging 25.0 points per game on the season and a career-high 2.2 blockers per game.

Born in Canada, Edey didn’t start playing organized basketball till his sophomore year of high school. At IMG, he took a significant step forward in his development but was still very much under the radar.

Then a 7-foot-3, 265-pounder center, Edey had offers that included Baylor, Minnesota, Santa Clara and Tulane among others.

In the On3 Industry Rankings, Edey was a consensus three-star recruit and was ranked the No. 255 player in the nation.

One underrated piece to the Matt Painter/ Zach Edey Marriage has been the development throughout the years

Edey was a raw, 3 star recruit, from Canada and wasn’t in anyone’s top 200

He just had 40 in the Elite 8 to send his team to the Final Four

Love to see it pic.twitter.com/FdSh5US7vu

— Hoop Herald (@TheHoopHerald) March 31, 2024

Watching these highlights of Edey and it is clear that his size was the biggest factor in his high school success. There is just no one at the high school level who was prepared to handle his length.

But the nuances to his game, including his outside game, really began to develop at Purdue. Watching his unrefined potential, however, is a real treat.