Latest news with #AJDybantsa
CBS News
4 days ago
- Entertainment
- CBS News
Brockton's AJ Dybantsa and BYU will play UConn at TD Garden in Hall of Fame Series
AJ Dybantsa on his decision to go to BYU, life as projected No. 1 pick in NBA Draft AJ Dybantsa on his decision to go to BYU, life as projected No. 1 pick in NBA Draft AJ Dybantsa on his decision to go to BYU, life as projected No. 1 pick in NBA Draft AJ Dybantsa, a Brockton native and this year's No. 1 recruit in college basketball, will get to play in front of a Boston crowd during the 2025 NCAA season. Dybantsa and the BYU Cougars will square off against the UConn Huskies at TD Garden this November. BYU and UConn will take over the home of the Boston Celtics on Nov. 15 for a showcase showdown, the two schools announced Thursday. The game is part of the Hall of Fame Series, and will feature two teams expected to be among the best squads in college ball in 2025. AJ Dybantsa returning to Boston Dybantsa was born in Brockton but played just one season of high school ball locally. He played his freshman year at St. Sebastian's in Needham before he transferred to Prolific Prep in California -- one of the country's top basketball academies. Dybantsa finished off his high school career at Utah Prep Academy. It was with Utah Prep that Dybantsa returned to Boston last November, when he scored 18 points and had six rebounds in a 79-71 win over Highland School of Virginia at Emmanuel College. Dybantsa was the top high school recruit last year, and announced he'd be playing his college ball at BYU on ESPN's First Take in December. There will be plenty of hype around Dybantsa throughout what will probably be his lone season at BYU. The 6-foot-9 forward is seen as the likely No. 1 overall pick in the 2026 NBA Draft, though a lot can change throughout a college basketball season. Alex Karaban playing in front of home crowd too While Dybantsa will get the bulk of the attention come November, the game will also be a homecoming for UConn forward Alex Karaban. The Southborough native played at Algonquin Regional in Northborough and New Hampton School in New Hampshire before wrapping up his high school career at IMG Academy in Bradenton, Florida. He was a four-star recruit when he committed to UConn, and played a critical role on the Huskies teams that won back-to-back NCAA titles in 2023 and 2024. This November's matchup at TD Garden will be just the second time BYU and UConn have played each other. The two schools first matched up in the second round of the 2003 NCAA Tournament, which the 5-seeded UConn won, 58-53.
Yahoo
17-05-2025
- Sport
- Yahoo
No. 1 College Basketball Recruit Makes Decision Before Senior Season
As temperatures rise across the country, so does the intensity in basketball gyms. The summer basketball circuit is ramping up, bringing together many of the nation's best high school players for a stretch of high-stakes competition. One of the biggest names to watch is Tyran Stokes, the top-ranked player in the class of 2026. Stokes, who plays for Notre Dame High School in Sherman Oaks, California, has become a priority target for nearly every major college basketball program in the country. With dozens of coaches eyeing him, the summer circuit will be an important showcase for the 17-year-old phenom. Advertisement The Bleacher Report basketball social media team recently shared a post highlighting Stokes' return to the court. "No. 1 ranked prospect Tyran Stokes is returning to AAU basketball." Originally from Louisville, Kentucky, Stokes has lived in several cities, including San Diego and Atlanta. He now resides in Napa, California. During his eighth-grade season, he played in the prestigious Nike Peach Jam on an under-16 team, showcasing his talent against older competition. Before his freshman year of high school, Stokes enrolled at Prolific Prep, a program known for developing elite prospects. In his second season there, he was joined by fellow star AJ Dybantsa, who reclassified to the class of 2025 and will attend Brigham Young University this fall. There had been speculation that Stokes might also reclassify, but that no longer seems likely. Notre Dame High School (CA) forward Tyran Stokes (4). Mandatory Credit: Mark J. Rebilas-Imagn Images Mark J. Rebilas-Imagn Images After leaving Prolific Prep, Stokes transferred to Notre Dame High School in Sherman Oaks. There, he dominated opponents, averaging 21 points, 9.3 rebounds and 4 assists per game. Advertisement Stokes is widely regarded as one of the most versatile players in the nation. Top programs like Kansas, Louisville, and Kentucky have shown strong interest in his recruitment. He visited Kansas back in April and had a trip to Kentucky on the schedule, though he ultimately canceled the visit to Lexington. As the summer progresses, all eyes will be on Tyran Stokes as he continues to rise through the ranks and shape the future of college basketball. Related: Duke's Cedric Coward Sends Strong Message on Jon Scheyer At NBA Draft Combine Related: Tyrese Proctor Makes Clear Decision on NBA Draft After Leaving Duke
New York Times
13-05-2025
- Sport
- New York Times
AJ Dybantsa's impact on Big 12? Can Kevin Willard win at Villanova? College basketball mailbag
We talked SEC and Big East in the first of of our two-part mailbag. Let's dive into the Big 12, Kansas, Michigan State, the new Pac-12 and more in Part 2. (Note: Submitted questions have been lightly edited for clarity and length.) How much does adding AJ Dybantsa affect BYU and the rest of the Big 12? — Sarah K. Let's establish a couple of realities. First, the reigning Big 12 player of the year, JT Toppin of Texas Tech, is coming back for the 2025-26 season. Second, there is always an adjustment period, no matter how talented you are, when you move from high school to college or college to the pros. Advertisement Dybantsa, one of the top recruits nationally and a heralded NBA prospect, has drawn a lot of intrigue since he got a reported $7 million in name, image and likeness money to pick BYU. (In April, Dybantsa told a fan that the $7 million payday is a 'false rumor.') He is obviously very good … but is he even the best player in the 2025 class? At the Hoop Summit in April, the World Team had no answer for Cam Boozer, the former No. 1 player in the 2025 class who is headed to Duke. Dybantsa scored 24 points in Team USA's 124-114 overtime win; Boozer had 22, plus 16 rebounds. What happens when Dybantsa is the top player on the scouting report? And don't forget that Dybantsa won't be the only superstar rookie in the Big 12: Kansas is bringing in guard Darryn Peterson, who 247Sports currently rates as the top recruit in the country. Dybantsa is going to have plenty of competition for both conference and national freshman of the year honors, which benefits us, the people who love watching good basketball. He'll also play alongside All-Big 12 selection Richie Saunders, who has announced he'll be back. But given Toppin's return and how much talent Houston is bringing in, plus the fact that both of those programs made deep runs in the NCAA Tournament, I don't see BYU finishing higher than third in the Big 12 … which is exactly where the Cougars were at the end of the 2024-25 season. But it is plausible that they make a deep postseason run — they lost in the Sweet 16 to Alabama this year — when matched up with teams that aren't as familiar with guarding Dybantsa. Peterson should help KU with that, too. A deep run from either (or both!) of these teams could ultimately help the Big 12 recapture the claim as the best men's college basketball conference. — Lindsay Schnell Do you think Kevin Willard can bring Villanova back to the top of the Big East? National contender status? — Brian S. Yes, and we'll see. I'm not quite willing to go there yet on the second one — at least at the level of consistency of what Jay Wright reached — but I do think hiring Willard was a lot smarter than going with an unproven assistant. I'm always wary of in-the-family hires. Some have gone brilliantly. Tom Izzo, Mark Few, Matt Painter, Jon Scheyer (on track). But others have really crashed. Advertisement When you're one of the best programs in the sport, why limit yourself to one or two candidates when theoretically you should be able to attract some awesome candidates? Willard made sense because he had success in the Big East at one of the toughest places to win (Seton Hall), and then he was off to a solid start at Maryland. I'm not sure he's Wright, but the floor is a lot higher than hiring a Kyle Neptune. Villanova has been willing to put resources — i.e., NIL funds — toward basketball, and Willard has done a nice job of roster building at his past two stops. The league has more depth at the top than when Wright had it rolling, so maybe how Villanova is judged should be slightly different. But if Villanova can consistently be a top-four team in the league with a league championship every four or five years, then that should be considered a success. And a league winner is usually going to be a national title contender. — CJ Moore How does Michigan State keep up after the losses of Tre Holloman and Jase Richardson? Tom Izzo doesn't usually get big talent from the portal, so I feel like we're stuck. — Kaiden B. Losing Richardson hurts much more than Holloman, IMO. By season's end, Richardson was Sparty's best player, and I thought there was a decent chance that he might run things back in East Lansing for a second season. Instead, with a first-round landing spot seemingly guaranteed, Richardson is testing his luck, and then Holloman's departure only exacerbated MSU's backcourt situation. So far, the only true guard Izzo has added is journeyman Trey Fort (Samford), who at least has high-major experience from his lone season at Mississippi State. Fort brings much-needed scoring and shooting punch — he shot 37.9 percent from 3 last season on five attempts per game — but he's not a true point guard. Fellow perimeter addition Kaleb Glenn (Florida Atlantic) is more of a wing, meanwhile, and even less suited to run MSU's offense. If Fort had to serve as a temporary lead ballhandler, he probably could. But you'd rather find someone a bit more natural at creating behind Jeremy Fears Jr., who is going to almost singularly have the keys to Izzo's offense. Even with Kur Teng returning, I'd be surprised if Izzo doesn't add at least one more ballhandling guard who can set up his offense when Fears needs a breather. As for Michigan State's outlook at large, though? I pegged the Spartans as a mid-tier Big Ten team last season, before Richardson's emergence and the team's incredible depth made clear they could play above that level. That might be more what reality is for this team. Purdue and Michigan already look like the clear Big Ten favorites, with Iowa and Illinois also looking dangerous. While I'm a big fan of Coen Carr, Jaxon Kohler and Fears, the two things that made MSU special this season — a dynamic lead guard and depth — just don't seem like they'll be there. Maybe some late portal additions change that, but this should only underscore just how special a season Michigan State just had. — Brendan Marks Advertisement From a basketball perspective, which school would be a great addition to the Revised Pac-12: Another Mountain West team, Saint Mary's, University of San Francisco, UC Irvine or another school? — Z77Pwjpycd As both a Pac-12 alum and someone constantly trying to look at the glass half full, I was holding out hope that UNLV would join the Pac-12 2.0. The league is already slated to be excellent in men's basketball, with programs like Gonzaga, Colorado State, Boise State, San Diego State and Utah State set to join Oregon State and Washington State. (This is also a pretty good women's basketball conference.) Of the schools you listed as a possible pickup, Saint Mary's has been the most consistent. The issue is that if the Pac-12 wants to be taken seriously, it can't have teams playing in high school gyms, which is essentially where Saint Mary's plays (I understand this is part of the Gaels' charm, but it's a branding issue). New Mexico would be a solid choice from a men's basketball perspective, but given how important football is, you can't invite a school that's gone a combined 16-39 the past five years. Now, is this pipe dream given that UNLV is getting as much as $24 million to stay in the MWC when other schools were fleeing? Technically, yes. But I'm going to hold out hope. In the history of realignment, things that once seemed impossible are now a reality. (I will never have a truly satisfactory answer to, 'Why is Nebraska in the Big Ten instead of the Big 12?') With the way things have gone, it seems like only a matter of months before we have another major shakeup in the college sports conference landscape — maybe then that $24 million becomes irrelevant. — Schnell I saw recently on ESPN that Kansas was projected to be a 7-seed again. Additionally, I haven't seen anybody discussing it as a legitimate Elite Eight threat, let alone a title threat. Is this an overreaction to KU underachieving in the past two years? Or is the roster that it built around Darryn Peterson simply not good enough to contend? — Sam W. Bracketology in April and May is hilarious. Just like Top 25s this time of year, it's all guesswork, and there are a lot of picks that will look dumb in about seven months. But yes, you're right in both regards: This is probably a slight overreaction to what KU has been the past two years, and also on paper, the portal class looks slightly underwhelming. I think not just chasing names has been a sign of progress when it comes to the portal class. This is Bill Self approaching the portal more like Duke's Scheyer did last year. Scheyer got some criticism because his portal additions were not ranked highly on any portal lists, but he was intentional in finding players who he thought fit around Cooper Flagg, and he also wanted positional size. That approach ended up working out great, and an addition like Sion James was one of the steals of the 2024 portal cycle. KU's grade is still incomplete because Self still needs to add one or two more players. But what's apparent is that athleticism/ability to guard mattered more this time around than just trying to add scoring/top names on a list. He got a shooter in Jayden Dawson; he got a point guard/secondary handler who can guard and also generate paint touches in Melvin Council Jr., which addressed a weakness from this past year; and then he got a Swiss Army knife kind of wing in Tre White, whose size (6-foot-7) and position 3/4 type have been really important pieces on Self's best teams. The Jayhawks could still use another scorer, and they had Dame Sarr on campus last week. A 6-7 shooting guard, Sarr is one of the most talented unsigned players left who are planning to play college hoops next season. He would allow Self to lean into playing two to three big wings at a time, mimicking the approach in 2022-23, which is the last time KU was a No. 1 seed. KU could also still be in the mix for former Texas Tech wing Darrion Williams, who is in the portal but also considering the NBA. If Self lands either of those players, I'd likely bump KU into the top 10. So let's wait to see what the final product looks like, but you are correct to assume that just like KU's preseason ranking is usually inflated because of past success, there's a hint of recency bias right now and also the hesitancy that comes with ranking a team whose best player is someone we haven't seen play at this level yet. — Moore (Top photo of AJ Dybantsa: Soobum Im / Getty Images)
Yahoo
10-05-2025
- Sport
- Yahoo
CBS Sports analyst drops bold prediction for BYU Basketball next season
BYU Basketball is getting national hype going into the next season. After top recruit AJ Dybantsa arrived on campus the feeling around the program has intensified. This comes months after Kevin Young's first year with the Cougars ended in a Sweet 16 loss to Alabama. Most analysts have BYU as a top 10 team going into the 2025-26 college basketball season. Jon Rothstein believes this could be a historic year for Young's team and sees a deep tournament run on the horizon. "I think if you're a BYU fan now and you went to the Sweet 16 without a talent like [AJ Dybantsa], the goal and the realistic expectations for BYU should be to go to a Final Four. And I don't even think that's anything that should blink at," Rothstein said on his podcast. BYU not only has Dybantsa, but Baylor transfer Rob Wright will be one of the best guards in the nation. Richie Saunders is a proven All-Big 12 talent and put off the NBA to "run it back" in Provo. While Dybantsa already said he's out after the upcoming season, he'll be a leader on this team and a likely candidate to be the top overall pick in the 2026 NBA Draft. Advertisement Related: BYU Basketball players are turning heads for unexpected choice If BYU can reach the final phase of March Madness, it would be unprecedented. The Cougars have only experienced one Elite Eight run under the current NCAA tournament format. Danny Ainge led the Cougars to the best result in 1981. Since then, the 2011 team came close with a 83-74 Sweet 16 overtime loss to No. 2 seeded Florida. Related: AJ Dybantsa admits BYU wasn't top school, blown away by NBA ready program Needless to say, the expectations are high for BYU this year. If they come together and play outstanding basketball, the sky's the limit. It's not unrealistic to say the Cougars could be the team to beat in the Big 12.
Yahoo
10-05-2025
- Sport
- Yahoo
Richie Saunders makes announcement about his future at BYU
Richie Saunders announced he'll return to BYU for his senior season on Saturday. The Cougars standout tested the NBA waters but decided to run it back one more time. After leading BYU in scoring last season and earning All-Big 12 First-Team honors, Saunders' decision gives BYU a real shot at a special 2025-26 campaign. Kevin Young and his staff have built an incredible starting five around top recruit AJ Dybantsa. Saunders was sensational throughout the year, averaging 16.5 points, 4.5 rebounds, and 1.6 assists per game while shooting an efficient 52% from the field and 43% from three-point range. His all-around impact helped push BYU to the Sweet 16 for the first time in over a decade. Advertisement Related: BYU Basketball lands top four-star transfer guard With Saunders returning, the rest of BYU's roster looks loaded. He'll join forces Dybansta and two high-level scorers in Rob Wright and Kennard Davis Jr., who transferred this past week. All three are capable of putting up double figures, and Dybansta could be the best scorer on the team. For Saunders, it's a dream setup after carrying a major burden last season. He'll now find himself surrounded by elite offensive talent, allowing him to play free and more efficiently. Related: BYU's AJ Dybantsa reveals all-time NBA starting five BYU will likely enter the season as a preseason favorite in Big 12, and it could be the most anticipated year in the history of Cougar basketball. Saunders already helped lead BYU to one Sweet 16. Now he has a chance to do something no BYU player ever has, which is to make it twice. Young's Cougars will be a force with all eyes on Provo next year.
