Dayton Flyers finish season in top 3 of Associated Press poll

Photos: Dayton vs. George Washington DAYTON, OH - MARCH 07: Dayton Flyers players and coaches celebrate after the game against the George Washington Colonials at UD Arena on March 7, 2020 in Dayton, Ohio. Dayton defeated George Washington 76-51 and won the Atlantic 10 Conference regular season title. (Photo by Joe Robbins/Getty Images) (Joe Robbins)

By Michael Purves

DAYTON — The Dayton Flyers finished No. 3 in the final Associated Press Top 25 Poll released Wednesday.

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The ranking matched the best year-end ranking for the program with the 1955-56 team that finished the season also ranked third in the AP poll. The Flyers also finished the year with the program record for most consecutive weeks ranked in the Top 25 Poll.

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Dayton finished the season with a program-best 29 wins and only two losses. Both of those losses were in overtime and one was to the Kansas Jayhawks, who finished first in the poll.

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Rounding out the top five in the poll were No. 1 Kansas, No. 2 Gonzaga, No. 4 Florida State, and No. 5 Baylor.

“The voters who deemed us worthy to be one of the top five teams in the country and finish in the poll in the top three, we appreciate that,” Head Coach Anthony Grant said in an Associated Press report. “Having that recognition hopefully is something — another thing that you can look back on and will be in the history books, that this team was able to accomplish a top-five ranking.”