Obi Toppin is Dayton Flyers’ first All-American in 41 years

On Wednesday, The Sporting News named Toppin to its All-American first team. Toppin is Dayton's first All-American since Jim Paxson in 1979.

“Dayton did not play many close games, in large part because Toppin was so much better than the rest of the Atlantic 10 that even the league’s NCAA Tournament contenders couldn’t keep up,” wrote Mike DeCourcy, of The Sporting News. “That game at Saint Louis turned out to be the one great chance there was to prevent an 18-0 Dayton run through the conference, but Toppin’s tip-in with 8:20 left ignited a 29-16 Dayton close to regulation that forced overtime. His 3-pointer just inside the four-minute mark closed the deficit to a single basket. When Duquesne got too close for comfort in the Flyers’ trip to Pittsburgh, Toppin attacked the rim for eight points in the final eight minutes to help preserve a four-point win. He scored in double figures in every game but one and produced eight double-doubles, helping the Flyers to a school-record win total (29) that figures to keep growing.”

Toppin is Dayton’s 10th All-American. He joins Paxson, Alphonse Schumacher (1912, 1913), Don Meineke (1951, 1952), John Horan (1955), Bill Uhl (1956), Bill Chmielewski (1962), Garry Roggenburk (1962), Henry Finkel (1966) and Don May (1967, 1968).

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Toppin, a redshirt sophomore forward, was named the Atlantic 10 Conference Player of the Year on Tuesday. He leads third-ranked Dayton with 20.0 points and 7.5 rebounds per game. He ranks fourth in the country in effective field-goal percentage (68.4). He's shooting 69.8 percent from 2-point range and 39 percent (32 of 82) from 3-point range.

The Sporting News named Luka Garza its national player of the year, while giving the coach of the year award to Dayton's Anthony Grant.