KANSAS CITY, Mo. – The National Association of Basketball Coaches (NABC) has announced that the University of Dayton's Anthony Grant and Obi Toppin have been named its Coach and Player of the Year.  The awards were determined by a nationwide vote of NABC-member Division I head coaches.

This is the third time that Grant and Toppin have swept the Coach and Player of the Year Awards so far this season.  The Flyer duo were also both winners of the same honors from the Associated Press and the U.S. Basketball Writers Association.  

This is just the seventh time that the NABC Coach and Player of the Year have come from the same school.    Previous tandems were Georgetown's John Thompson and Patrick Ewing in 1985, Purdue's Gene Keady and Glen Robinson in 1994, North Carolina's Bill Guthridge and Antawn Jamison in 1998, Duke's Mike Kryzyzewski and Elton Brand in 1999, Saint Joseph's Phil Martelli and Jameer Nelson in 2004, and Michigan State's Tom Izzo and Draymond Green in 2012.

Grant and Toppin's awards were part of the NABC's top awards program.  Grant was selected as the NABC Division I Coach of the Year presented by Wilson, while Toppin was named the NABC Division I Player of the Year powered by ShotTracker. They were joined by NABC Defensive Player of the Year presented by Marriott Bonvoy Udoka Azubuike of Kansas, NABC Freshman of the Year presented by adidas Vernon Carey Jr. of Duke, and NABC Pete Newell Big Man of the Year Luka Garza of Iowa.

The 2019-20 season may be remembered as "The Year of the Big Man" as all four players honored were 6-foot-9 or taller.

Grant had also already been named Men's College Coach of the Year by The Sporting News and CBSsports.com.  He is also a finalist for the Wooden Coach of the Year and the Naismith Coach of the Year awards.

Dayton went 29-2 this year, setting UD's record for wins in a season despite not having the benefit of post-season play.  Both of UD's losses were in overtime on neutral courts to teams expected to be in the NCAA tournament field – No. 1-ranked Kansas and Colorado.

The Flyers earned a No. 3 ranking in both the Associated Press and USA Today Coaches polls.  After being picked to finish third in the Atlantic 10 Conference's preseason poll, UD was the first team to go 18-0 in the conference in 35 years.

Dayton finished 2019-20 on a 20-game win streak, the longest active winning streak in Division I.  The 20-game streak matches the longest in the same season in Flyer basketball history, matching the 20-gamer in 1951-52.

In the modern era of UD basketball (Post-World War II), Grant is just the second Dayton grad to coach the Flyers. The first was his coach, College BB Hall of Famer Don Donoher (1964-89).

Toppin is Dayton's first consensus All-American.  

He has been selected the College Basketball Player of the Year by the Associated Press, The Athletic, USA Today, CBSsports.com, NBC Sports and Rivals.  Sports Illustrated announced its Top 50 College Basketball Players for the 2019-20 season last week, and Toppin's uniform number matched his ranking – "1."  

The Brooklyn native is a finalist for the Atlanta Tip-Off Club's Citizen Naismith Trophy, is on the national ballot for the Los Angeles Athletic Club's John R. Wooden Award, and is on the watch list the Basketball Hall of Fame's Karl Malone Award.

Toppin finished the year averaging 20.0 points and 7.5 rebounds a game, and shooting .633 (245-387) from the field, .390 (32-82) from 3-pt. range and .702 (99-141) from the line.  According to Synergy Basketball, Toppin led the nation with 1.20 points per possession while he was on the floor.

He was the only player in the country who averaged 20.0 points, 7.0 rebounds and shot over 60% from the field.  He also had the best field goal percentage in the last five years of any Division I player who averaged 20 points a game.

One of the most efficient players in the nation, Toppin averaged 20.0 points a game, while taking just 12.5 field goal attempts per game.  Despite not strictly playing in the post, his 167 "close-in" 2-pt. FG's were 30 more than anyone else in the nation.


Toppin led the A-10 in FG% (.633, 245-387), and was second in scoring (20.0).  He was 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 was also fifth nationally in field goal percentage, even though he took more than double the number of three-pointers the rest of the top 10 combined.

The athletic high Flyer also led the nation in dunks (107).