Hall of Fame
SEDRIC TONEY - Men's Basketball 1983-84
Sedric Toney is remembered as the no-nonsense point guard of two of the best teams in the last 25 years of University of Dayton basketball. A graduate of Wilbur Wright High School in Dayton (which also produced UD Hall of Famer Monk Meineke), Toney played two seasons at Nebraska Wesleyan Junior College before returning to Gem City and guiding the Flyers to their first back-to-back NCAA appearances since the Flyers reached the Final Four in 1967.
As a junior, Toney averaged 11.6 points (third on the team) and 2.9 assists (second) on the 1983-84 team that went 21-11 and reached the "Final Five," losing in the West Regional championship game to eventual champion Georgetown. Among the most memorable of his performances was UD's come-from-way-behind upset of third-ranked DePaul that ended with "The Shot" by Ed Young. There would have been no "Schelly-to-Chapman-to-Young" heroics if Toney had not scored 14 of his game's 16 points in the second half.
In 1984-85, it took the eventual national champs to end UD's season again. Villanova edged Dayton 51-49 in the closest game of its 1985 title run in the first round of the NCAA tournament. Toney averaged 13.0 points (third on the team) and 3.5 assists (second) while quarterbacking the Flyers to a 19-11 season that included three wins over ranked teams.
Toney is currently 63rd at UD in career scoring with 722 points in his two seasons. His career scoring average of 12.2 is 23rd. He went on to have a five-year NBA career and eventually returned to campus to earn his degree from the University in 2001.
Toney lives in Cleveland. He works in basketball operations for the NBA league office, and also does color work for ESPN.
