Favorite Obi Moment
 

The human highlight reel provided us with so many the last two years it’s hard to pick one. But I’ll go with a photo taken from the VCU game 1/14/2020 at UD Arena. Huge second half with a 22-0 run to bury the Rams.

The photo was on daytonflyers.com with the game write up. It shows Obi from behind. Both arms are stretched out. He’s holding the ball in his left hand. You can read “Toppin” on the back of his jersey. The Flyer Faithful at UD Arena is in the background.

Two things I like about the photo. First is Obi is going in for a dunk and appears to just be floating in air. The Man Gravity Forgot as Chris R tagged him. Zero effort for him to fly through the air for this dunk.

The second is I read pro scouts had noted Obi didn’t use his left hand much and pondered if it was a liability. Starting with that game I noticed Obi dunking with his left hand a lot. It was like he was saying, “oh...I got that shot too. Here, let me show you.”

Obi...defying gravity and defying his critics...all effortlessly, enroute to NPOY.

If UD printed up that photo in about a 12 x 18, I’d buy it to raise money for the program. UD should put out about a dozen Obi photos for sale and take orders. If Obi was inclined to sign a one of each, those could be auctioned off for big bucks as a fundraiser.

The GW game. Specifically an early game alley oop that makes the announcer ask if we have already seen the play of the game. What makes it so awesome is that the play is at most Obi's 3rd best dunk of the night, and maybe 4th best.

I think it was the whole North Florida game for me. Obie went for 31 and 8, and had something like 10 dunks, many of the super-spectacular variety.

+ YouTube Video

The 3 vs Kansas where Obi was facing there bench as the ball was in the air about to go in the hoop.

The windmill dunk with Mikesell behind him mocking his action.

His frosh year when he went between the legs for a dunk. It was only a six point lead at the time so the game was still in flux so maybe not the best time to try that...but I mean wow! I jumped off my couch and made my wife and daughter come watch it over and over again. That was the first time I knew this guy was a little different.

THIS. Ryan times it so perfectly and the crowd is so unbelievably quiet you can hear everything on the court crystal clear. Right into the student section and the THUNK sound it makes is incredible.

When Obi signed his LOI. The rest is icing on the cake! :D

Well this will sound crazy but here goes.

Watching him pregame and on the bench the year he had to sit out. His smile, his attitude, his cheer leading ability I knew he would be special. Little things like his body language can help bring the whole team together.

2nd favorite, and I noticed this several times this season. Obi being interviewed on national TV after a win by the cbssports guys. When the interview is over, Obi initiates the hand shake and says thank you. Most athletes at all levels sprint off to the locker room without doing such. CLASS ACT

Tough to top that 3 dunk stretch he had against GW on senior night... but my favorite was his stare down of the Kansas bench, while his 3 pt shot was shredding the nets!

My favorite "moment", the moment that defined to me the wonderful person that is Obi Toppin..............when he was voted by his teammates the recipient of The Spirit Award during a season he never put on the Flyer uniform. That spoke volumes to me. I knew right then that we had something special on our hands......and did we ever......as a person, player and human being!!!!

Best wishes, Obi, God speed and Go Flyers!

Here is my favorite Obi moment. I attended a practice during his redshirt season. I commented that he looked really good, very different than most big men that played for UD. He was long, athletic and had a nice hands; could shoot and dribble. I was impressed. I might have posted on this board, but I am too lazy to go back and research.

That summer, I was talking to an assistant coach for UD. I asked how good Obi was. He asked when I saw Obi and told him a practice during the season. He lit up and said " You did not see anything. You won't believe how good he is now."

He has delivered too many highlights to narrow it down. His highlights for me are his development and team attitude.

Second half in the Davidson game, alley oop reverse dunk. My son and I watched it over and over. Absolutely loved watching Obi.

My favorite was his between the legs stuff in the second half of the GW game for two reasons, mainly because it squeezed the last bit of air out of a scrappy GW team at home one Senior Day.

But also there was a residual value to the incredible home crowd reaction. Withing seconds, with the fans screaming at peak volume, Chatman made a phenomenal defensive play to draw a charging call, and the Flyer Faithful who were already screaming, actually managed to climb about 10 decibels more for maybe the loudest UD Arena noise I have ever heard. That was set up by Obi.

My wife was listening in the next room while I watched the replay, and she asked what in the heck happened? I said you have got to hear it to believe it.

I like the fact the between-the-legs dunk sort of bookended his career. Year one was a little too flashy for AG in a game that was tight (at the time) but showed us what we were in store for down the road. Year two was the exclamation point on his career and no doubt a goodbye kiss to the Flyer fans. And this time, AG was all smiles.

Interestingly enuf, Obi did not recall performing a reverse dunk after the game until a few of us reminded him that yes, you did.
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Gotta be that put back dunk vs The Dukes. That was just absolutely unreal. I remember seeing it like how is that even possible. Obi even looked like he surprised himself

2nd half of what turned out to be his last game as a flyer.

The three dunk trifecta was awesome.

What a way to go out!

It's crazy to watch his left-handed windmills and realize he's not left-handed.

The trifecta, nothing beats it. Three straight baskets were dunks by Obi
Dunk 1 - “you are my b!tc#” dunk. The expression on the defenders face was priceless
Dunk 2 - Reverse dunk
Dunk 3 - “For the Flyer Faithful” Between the legs.
Was that the last basket of his Flyer career?
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Wasn’t his first basket as a Flyer also a dunk?

Isn’t this kinda like having to pick your favorite child? 😳
Anyway, of the many, I’m gonna go with the turn around and glare at the Kansas bench as his “3” sailed through the net. This was KANSAS he did this to, for a national TV audience.

Ask me the same question tomorrow, it will probably be one of his other incredible moments.

Believe you are correct. Hit one FT after the last dunk.

Wasn't there was a dayton basket or two between dunks two and three? And I think he had one more dunk before he was taken out. I'll have to rewatch now!

Apologies if I already posted this but I love this video. The soundtrack is a The Who's 'Teenage Wasteland' it gives me chills.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SHHY7aGYsNY

CTFlyer correctly noted that the song is called Baba O'Riley

I have to go with this one as well. It would have a great moment if he had started staring the bench down after he made it, but obi turned towards the bench as the shot was still in the air. Talk about confident swagger.

Titus and Tate podcast said Obi’s last five baskets (not free throws) in a Flyer uniform were dunks. I’m pretty sure his first basket in a Flyer uniform was a dunk, and it might have even been his first two were dunks.

I’m going to go out on a limb here and declare no other DI basketball player can say that???

Obi had an alley-oop from Crutcher that came before those 3. And he had one more dunk on a pass from Crutcher that came after that three dunk sequence. So his last five baskets for UD were all dunks.

Here's the game play-by-play:
https://www.espn.com/mens-college-ba...meId=401170334

Baba O'Riley

He had two amazing alley-oops that game. The one earlier in the game (alley-oop #1) was an alley-oop through a defender that made the announcer ask if they'd already seen the play of the game after less than two minutes. The one right before that sequence (alley-oop #2) was a two-handed alley-oop where he reached way behind his head to catch it. All 5 of those GW dunks were amazing.

Hard to rank them. For most players any one of them would be the play of their career, but here's my attempt:

1. Between the legs 3:00
2. In-your-face 2:40
3. Alley-oop #2 (way behind his head) 2:25
4. Alley-oop #1 (catch-and-turn) 0:22
5. 360 2:50

Times in this clip:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZEKAlTSTWs8

Ditto...Richmond game. You remember, the "overrated" chants?

Power and Grace.

https://www.bing.com/videos/search?q...tail&FORM=VIRE

Huh? I thought it was called the theme to CSI:NY