How big is Purdue’s Zach Edey? He’s the biggest debate in college hoops.

In Edey’s first three seasons, Purdue’s tournament stay was ended by a No. 13 seed, then a No. 15 seed, then a No. 16 seed. Thankfully for fans from West Lafayette, Ind., the NCAA didn’t create a No. 17 seed for Purdue to lose to this time around. And so the top-seeded Boilermakers advanced to a second-round matchup Sunday against No. 8 Utah State, which will be played in Indianapolis, just an hour away from campus. But if Edey, that 7-foot-4 and 300-pound marvel, plays anything like he did in the first round, his team will dominate. Reddened by battle scars across his shoulder from all the hacks, pull-downs and horse-collars that defenders call “fouls,” the Canadian-born Edey put up a signature performance against Grambling: 30 points, 21 rebounds.

Either Edey played like a projected first-round pick in this coming NBA draft — “I don’t think nobody seen what Zach Edey [does]. That’s kind of unreal. What they say he’s on paper, he’s exactly that,” Grambling guard Kintavious Dozier said.

Or he simply stood there and looked like the all-star any tall human being would against a Nerf hoop: “He’s going to be terrible,” Dan Le Batard said March 18, predicting Edey’s career in the NBA.

I, for one, can’t figure out whether Edey is the second coming of Yao Ming — or Drew Timme. But the time I saw him, when he made everyone else on the court appear fun-size, I was spellbound.

On Jan. 2, then-top-ranked Purdue visited College Park and unleashed Edey on those poor, undersized Maryland defenders. And I watched as 6-foot-9 Julian Reese tried and tried to body Edey away from his spots, which seemed like an impossible task even if he had assistance from his superstar sister Angel — or if the whole Reese bloodline joined him to crowd that paint. During another early possession, I counted three Terrapins orbiting Edey. There was no panic there, just Edey patiently passing out of the congested area twice while his teammates on the perimeter moved the ball around. Eventually, the rock returned to Edey for an easy dunk. He would go on to finish with 23 points on 8-for-13 shooting and 12 rebounds.

Edey was dominant, and the Boilermakers won breezily. After the game, I asked Purdue Coach Matt Painter about the team’s juggling act: keeping Edey as a beast in the college ranks while also preparing him for his potential launch into a very different game. Painter spent more than three minutes giving an answer that also doubled as Edey’s career chronology. But Painter started by repeating the question that he hears often.

“The one thing that comes up for him is: ‘Hey, are you going to let him shoot threes?’ ” Painter said.

That answer, as evidenced by the two three-pointers Edey has attempted during his four years at Purdue, would be a definitive “no.”

The NBA loves its unicorns, aliens and jokers — giant humans with diverse skill sets who do more than just build campfires three feet away from the hoop. But while 7-plus-footers such as Kristaps Porzingis, rookie sensation Victor Wembanyama and two-time MVP Nikola Jokic are the trend, the current version of the league has diminished the big man.

Joel Embiid, the best pure center, gives throwback vibes with his impeccable footwork — when he’s healthy, of course — but he also has attempted 112 three-pointers this season. That’s more than his dunks, hook shots and tip-ins combined. So if Edey doesn’t shoot threes, where will he fit in the NBA?

There are other top centers who live closer to the paint. But they’re agile, athletic and a wee slighter on the scale — think lob-catching Daniel Gafford in Dallas or shot-erasing Jarrett Allen in Cleveland. This is the landscape Edey, who looks all of his listed 300 pounds, will be entering come June. Had this been 2018, when a 16-year-old Edey turned to basketball, he might have been a lottery pick. That year, center Deandre Ayton was the top pick, and two other big men came off the board within the next five slots (Jaren Jackson Jr. and Mo Bamba).

But six years later, Edey’s size and skill may not be as appealing to an NBA general manager. It’s why back in January, Painter needed to share the context on how far Edey has come in his basketball journey from an IMG Academy afterthought to the most statistically dominant player in college. That night, Painter’s audience was a room full of reporters inside Xfinity Center. But it seemed as if Painter wanted NBA teams to listen up.

“And so things like his mobility and ball-screen defense, being able to change ends, being able to pass — he was a terrible passer a few years ago. I mean, terrible. But he never got doubled. He averaged three [points per game] in high school. Who in the hell wants to double him, right?” Painter said. “And so [in high school] when he backed up Mark Williams, who was a great player at Duke and he was a first-round pick by the Hornets, he got to practice against Mark. It was one of the smartest decisions. IMG has about seven or eight teams, so he was on one of the lesser teams, then he moved up to the second team, and [Armando] Bacot was there the year before. So he was around guys.”

Painter continued on about the best center he has ever coached, speaking up almost in his defense. That might have been unnecessary for any other reigning Naismith player of the year, but this is Edey we’re talking about.

“He played about 10 minutes, 12 minutes a game his last year [in high school]. He didn’t play a lot, but he got to practice against Mark. I thought that was a great decision on his part. Then when he came to our place, he played against Trevion Williams, and now he’s had a lot of success with Team Canada and playing there. So he’s had a lot of different experiences in a short amount of time.

“You have to understand that his first year of organized basketball was 16. He was a hockey player and a baseball player,” Painter said. “He’s got a bright future. You’ve got to understand, when you start playing basketball when you’re 5 or 6, in your seventh, eighth year, you’re in middle school. He’s in middle school. That’s where he’s at. From an improvement standpoint. He’s not going to plateau out. He can shoot the basketball — it’s just if you’re shooting threes, you’re shooting perimeter shots. We want to get people in foul trouble. We want to get to the free throw line, and we want to steal points.”

When the Boilermakers take the court for the remainder of this season, Edey will be at the center of every play, every win or loss and every debate. He’s not a unicorn; he’s a lightning rod, and there’s no one else like him in college basketball.