A.J. Dybantsa, No. 1-ranked college basketball recruit, commits to BYU

A.J. Dybantsa, No. 1-ranked college basketball recruit, commits to BYU

Utah Prep’s A.J. Dybantsa stated that BYU’s NBA-influenced teaching employees performed an enormous half in his determination to decide to the Cougars. (Photograph by Barry Chin/The Boston Globe by way of Getty Photographs)

A.J. Dybantsa, the highest school basketball recruit within the class of 2025, introduced his dedication to BYU throughout Tuesday’s episode of ESPN’s “First Take.”

“So much stood out on my go to,” Dybantsa stated. “Clearly, coach Kevin Younger there. My final objective is to get to the NBA. He coached my favourite participant of all time, Kevin Durant, and he had excessive reward about him. On my go to, head coach all the way in which all the way down to the analytics man, analytics man all the way in which all the way down to the dietician is all NBA employees, even the power coach.

“If it is all NBA, I am attempting to get to the NBA, I believe it’ll be the most effective improvement program for me.”

Younger was an assistant with the Philadelphia 76ers and Phoenix Suns earlier than taking over the BYU job in April.

The Cougars had been one of many 6-foot-9 Utah Prep Academy ahead’s last 4 choices, which additionally included Alabama, Kansas and North Carolina. All 4 colleges had been conscious that Dybantsa is more likely to be a one-and-done as he is projected to be a high choose within the 2026 NBA Draft.

BYU has not had an NBA Draft choose since Jimmer Fredette went No. 10 total in 2011.

Dybantsa, who will flip 18 in January, is at present ranked forward of Cameron Boozer, a Duke commit and son of former NBA participant Carlos Boozer, and Darryn Peterson, who will play for Kansas.

“When Dybantsa is on the courtroom, notably in 5-on-5 motion, it is onerous to concentrate on anybody else,” wrote Krysten Peek wrote of Dybantsa after a USA Basketball minicamp final yr. “He has nice size along with his 6-9 body and has lengthy strides with the ball in his palms, protecting a whole lot of floor in a brief period of time. He is transferring higher off the ball and since he is such a proficient scorer, it opens up the spacing on the courtroom for his teammates.”

When requested who he fashions his recreation after, Dybantsa stated he sees himself within the mildew of a mix of Tracy McGrady and Shai Gilgeous-Alexander.

Dybantsa, who has NIL offers with Pink Bull and Nike, started his highschool profession at St. Sebastian’s in Massachusetts, the place he was title the state’s participant of the yr. He then moved to Prolific Prep in Napa, California, for his sophomore season earlier than settling in at Utah Prep Academy and reclassifying up from the 2026 to the 2025 highschool class.