On April 8, Beijing time, Canadian Chinese center Zhou Zhihao (English name: Zach Eddie) won the Naismith Award for the second consecutive year, and he will participate in the finals of the NCAA Championship tomorrow. Zhou Zhihao is the focus of the recent NCAA, and when the American media commented on his NBA template, they thought that he was not as good as China's legendary center Yao Ming, but more like Da Luo in his youth.
The Naismith Award is one of the best NCAA player awards, and Zhou is the third player in history to win the award two years in a row, joining Ralph Sampson and Bill Wharton. Previously, Zhou Zhihao has won NABC, AP, USBWA and Sports News Player of the Year awards, and he was also a finalist for the Woolden Awards.
In the past five games, Zhou Zhihao led Purdue University to win all the way to the finals. He scored 30 points, 21 rebounds and 3 blocks, 23 points, 14 rebounds and 3 blocks, 27 points and 14 rebounds, 40 points and 16 rebounds, and 20 points, 14 rebounds and 2 blocks. Currently, multiple draft experts believe that Zhou Zhihao is expected to be the NBA lottery pick in 2024.
Some fans and media compared Zhou Zhihao with Yao Ming, and the American media Sporting News wrote: "Yao Ming was inducted into the Hall of Fame for his silky smooth mid-range shooting, extremely high interior technical level, excellent defense and passing, and in Zach Eddie's game, many of Yao Ming's strengths are his weaknesses." Both players are tall, both are great interior players, and have Chinese ancestry (Eddie's mother is Chinese-Canadian), and that's what they have in common. ”
According to Sporting News, Chow's more suitable templates are Da Lopez and Al Jefferson. Da Lopez is also very dominant inside, huge, and the same as Da Luo when he was young, Zhou Zhihao can't shoot three points, but the difference between the two is still obvious, Da Luo originally had the ability to shoot from mid-range, and Zhou Zhihao rarely shot outside the penalty area. In addition, Zhou Zhihao's defense is not as good as Da Luo, and his lateral movement ability is not good, but the block threat still exists. The situation with Al Jefferson is similar.
Of course, there are also scouts who think that Zhou Zhihao is just the next Boban, and it is difficult to adapt to the rhythm of modern basketball, although Boban is very efficient, getting 22.8 points and 14.8 rebounds per 36 minutes, but the problem is that the defensive end is much more limited, although Boban can make a lot of contributions on the offensive end, and the defensive end loses more, which is why in the 9 years of the league, Boban can only play 8.7 minutes per game on average. The opponent can completely target Zhou Zhihao's slow speed defect, and frequently use blocking and dismantling to let the fast defender hit him.
In the 2024 draft, where will the Purdue center be drafted?