SPORTING NEWS – University of Dayton forward
Obi Toppin has been named a First Team All-American by The Sporting News. Toppin joins Dayton coach
Anthony Grant in being recognized by The Sporting News. Grant was named the media outlet's national Coach of the Year on Tuesday.
The awards continue (and are seemingly trending upward) for Toppin. On Sunday, he was selected to be Dayton's Co-MVP with teammate
Jalen Crutcher. On Tuesday, he was named the Atlantic 10's Player of the Year as well as a two-time First Team All-A-10 honoree.
Toppin is on the short list for every major national player of the year award including being one of 10 semifinalists for the Citizen Naismith Trophy, and one of 15 players on the national ballot for the Wooden Award.
He is the only player in the country who is averaging 20.0 points, 7.0 rebounds and shooting over 60% from the field. He also has the best field goal percentage in the last five years of any Division I player who averages 20 points a game.
The redshirt sophomore from Brooklyn leads the A-10 in FG% (.633, 245-387), and is second in scoring (20.0). He is the only player in the conference to be listed in both the top ten in FG% and 3-pt. FG% (8th, .390, 32-82). He is also fifth nationally in field goal percentage, even though he has taken more than double the number of three-pointers the rest of the top 10 has taken combined.
He also leads the nation in dunks (107).
Toppin is the first All-American for the Flyers since Jim Paxson was honored by USBWA in 1979.
Joining Toppin on the All-America team are Iowa's Luke Garza, Seton Hall's Myles Powell, Marquette's Markus Howard and Oregon's Payton Pritchard. The Sporting News All-America team is selected by a blue-ribbon panel of college basketball journalists that represents all regions of the country.
The Flyers are currently ranked third in the nation and have won 20 consecutive games. At 29-2, Dayton has already set a school record for wins in a season with the Atlantic 10 tournament and the post-season yet to come. UD won its third A-10 regular season in the last five years, but this season went undefeated (18-0) for the first time.
Dayton's next game is on Friday in the quarterfinals of the Atlantic 10 men's basketball championship. The Flyers will play at 12 noon ET against the winner of UMass and VCU.
