The story of how the Purdue Boilermakers became Big Man U, the latest being Zach Edey

WEST LAFAYETTE, Indiana — After his weeklong breakout performance on the national stage, the only thing on Zach Edey's mind was sneakers.

You see, the 7-foot-4 Purdue center wears size 20 shoes and there are not a lot of size 20 basketball sneakers on the market. He wore the Nike Zoom Rize 1's when he entered college and switched to the Nike Zoom Rize 2's when they came out. They're a little heavy, but good enough in Edey's eyes.

The problem? Nike is discontinuing the Zoom Rize 2's and the next version of the shoe isn't comfortable. Edey has been preparing for Zoom Rize doomsday, by stockpiling the 2's in different colors, including being tempted by random people direct messaging him trying to sell size 20s.

So when Edey went to Portland for the Phil Knight Legacy tournament in November — and averaged 22.7 points and 10.3 rebounds against West Virginia, Gonzaga and Duke en route to earning MVP honors — he had a request when the Nike co-founder handed him his award.

«I'll take as many of these as you can give me,» he told Phil Knight.

It hasn't worked out — yet.

«He just kind of laughed it off,» Edey told ESPN. «I haven't heard anything about it since. But I definitely need as many of these as possible because I'm not looking forward to the other ones.»

The shoe situation is a problem the Edey of five years ago would have never expected. That version of Edey wouldn't have been the front-runner for National Player of the Year in 2023. That version of Edey wouldn't have even thought about playing basketball.

His rise from baseball and hockey player to the best big man in college basketball is a pie chart of sorts: Equal parts size, dedication from Edey and commitment from Purdue's coaching staff.

Zach Edey is the latest