AJ Dybantsa is set to start his collegiate career with the BYU Cougars after committing to the program in December. The forward is considered the No. 1 prospect in the 2025 class, which is why many people were surprised when he chose to play for BYU when top programs showed interest in him.
Dybantsa has set high goals for his freshman season, as he’s eager to compete for the national championship with a Cougars team that made it to the Sweet 16 of the 2025 NCAA tournament. They lost to Alabama to finish the season with a 24-10 (14-6).
The FIBA U19 Basketball World Cup champion received offers from top schools such as North Carolina, Kansas and Alabama, but he chose to stay close to home after his tenure at Utah Prep ended.
AJ Dybantsa’s father had a major condition for BYU before his son committed to the school
College basketball analyst Jeff Goodman revealed on “Field of 68” that AJ Dybantsa’s father, Ace, had one specific condition before the forward officially committed.
“There isn’t much to get me to leave Charleston in mid-November. Going back home to Boston to see AJ’s return,” Goodman said on Wednesday, via “Field of 68.” “To Boston, UConn, that’ll be good. That was something that was in the works for a while; finally got done. It took a while but AJ’s father, Ace, really wanted that. When they committed to BYU, that was a game he almost said like, ‘Yeah, yeah, this is part of the deal. He might not have said like, ‘it’s a deal breaker,’ but it was like ,”Hey we’re coming here. We want a homecoming too. We want a game back in Boston.’”
Dybantsa and the Cougars will clash against the UConn Huskies at TD Garden on Nov. 15. Expectations are as high as they’ve ever been, and it’ll be interesting to see how he fares there.