Led by AJ Dybantsa, Team USA crushed through its opposition en route to the gold medal at the U-19 FIBA World Cup. He dominated when he had to, and he trusted his teammates when needed.
Dybantsa is a highly-decorated player at the youth level, so this wasn’t a new experience for him. Even so, he will always cherish that special feeling and responsibility:
“That was great, because that was my third time doing it. So that was my third gold medal, the third time we’re in another country listening to our anthem, so it was special,” he told Deseret.
AJ Dybantsa embraced the challenge of Team USA
On top of winning the gold medal, that type of experience certainly helped with his development as well, as he also got to play with some new teammates and adapt to a different system:
AJ Dybantsa
“I just learned how to play with a different group of guys. Some of these guys played on the U18 last year, and I was on the U17, so mixing up guys and playing with different guys, you just got to adapt,” Dybantsa said.
Now, Dybantsa will look to take that same experience to campus. His freshman — and most likely lone — season at BYU will draw a lot of buzz, and he’s ready for that challenge.
