NCAA Basketball: Obi Toppin, Loyola-Chicago week’s top mid-major performers
By Logan Butts
There were several matchups between top NCAA Basketball mid-major squads this week. Which teams came out on top?
Best Performance, Individual – Obi Toppin
I have held out all season long, at least so far, on making Obi Toppin the Player of the Week (although I did name him the Player of the Non-conference season). Part of the reason was that I started out the season iffy on whether the Atlantic 10 teams should be included in the mid-major ranks. (This is something I’m still unsure of, but the college basketball landscape this season doesn’t allow beggars to be choosers so that discussion will have to be postponed for the time being). The other reason was that Toppin could probably win this thing every single week if I did not try to spread the love around.
He has looked every part of a legitimate First-Team All-American and National Player of the Year candidate. Week in and week out, he has been consistently great for the Dayton Flyers, this week included. During a huge matchup with the A10’s second-best team, Rhode Island, on Tuesday, Toppin showed why he has been so widely regarded this year. In what was certainly their most-watched game of the conference season, Toppin led Dayton to an 81-67 win over the streaking Rams with 22 points on 7-9 shooting, 10 rebounds, and a killer windmill dunk.
Toppin followed that up with a ho-hum 19 points on 8-13 shooting with seven rebounds in a Dayton win at UMass. The Flyers have won 14 in a row, have jumped up to number five in the latest AP Poll, and look the part of a Final Four contender.