Obi Toppin named midseason national player of the year by The Athletic

On Tuesday, The Athletic named Toppin its midseason national player of the year. Sixteen college basketball writers from the website voted, and Toppin received seven first-place votes, putting him in front of Duke's Vernon Carey, Oregon's Payton Pritchard and Michigan State's Cassius Winston among others.

Here's an excerpt of what some of The Athletic writers had to say about Toppin, who's averaging 19.5 points and 7.7 rebounds for the No. 15 Flyers (13-2) and was named Atlantic 10 Co-Player of the Week on Monday.

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Brian Hamilton: "Toppin is the guy that conforms while not conforming. A POY from … Dayton? Well, yeah, when he's in or just outside the top 10 nationally in Win Shares and Player Efficiency Rating and Box Score Plus-Minus.

Seth Davis: "I love that Toppin is able to accrue gaudy statistics while also helping out his teammates."

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Brendan Quinn: "The Dayton star is not only one of the most entertaining players in the country, but he's also the centerpiece of a team with some very real Final Four dreams.