AJ Dybantsa was considered by many as the clear favorite to hear his name called in next year’s draft, but there are at least two players with serious chances to earn that honor: Kansas Jayhawks’ Darryn Peterson and Duke’s Cameron Boozer.

Peterson shone at Prolific Prep before committing to Bill Self’s team. The combo guard carries high expectations into his freshman season, and some believe he has already surpassed his competition for the No. 1 overall selection.

Analyst makes bold statement about Darryn Peterson’s draft stock

College basketball analyst Cory Taluba said Peterson is already the No. 1 prospect in the country during a recent appearance on “The Field of 68: After Dark” podcast.

“As of today, I don’t even have to hesitate. I think it’s Darryn Peterson,” he said. “He might be the best shooting guard prospect in 25, maybe 30 years, maybe going back to Kobe (Bryant). I even tried watching some Kobe high school film just to see what that looked like. I think he’s that special. I really, really do.”

Peterson should showcase his talents under a coach like Self. He has high expectations for the freshman ahead of a season with plenty of challenges for Kansas.

This year’s freshman class is full of talent, with two players going toe-to-toe to become the No. 1 overall pick in next year’s NBA draft. Several teams bolster their ranks via the transfer portal, but others recruited freshmen and added them to rosters ready to compete.

Darryn Peterson, AJ Dybantsa, and Cameron Boozer are the three most famous players in this class, but behind them, other intriguing talents are waiting to make an impact on their respective teams.

Dick Vitale names his top five freshmen in college basketball

Every year, Vitale discusses which players he’s most excited about ahead of the season, separating them into different categories, depending on their level of experience.

The veteran analyst wrote on Aug. 28 that PJ Haggerty, Braden Smith, JT Toppin, Graham Ike, and Bennett Stirtz all made it to his All-Rolls-Royce first team, lauding their ability to score, orchestrate the offense, and impact the game in multiple ways.

When it came with the “Diaper Dandies,” the ESPN talent didn’t hesitate. He went with Darryn Peterson (Kansas), AJ Dybantsa (BYU), Cameron Boozer (Duke), Nate Ament (Tennessee) and Mikel Brown Jr. (Louisville).

These players carry high expectations coming into the season, and Vitale is excited to watch them in action.

Dybantsa won’t play for the strongest program in the country, but he has already set high expectations for his team: the national championship. He may be gone after one season in college, but he wants to leave a strong mark on the program.

Coming off a gold medal in the FIBA U19 Basketball World Cup, he’s eager to add more silverware to his cabinet, but Dybantsa must learn and evolve before challenging for the championship and entering the NBA draft.

College basketball analyst shares concern about AJ Dybantsa

NCAA analyst Jeff Goodman is high on Dybantsa, but he still has one concern about the forward’s character. Goodman praised Dybantsa’s offense on “Field of 68,” but also wondered how he would respond when things weren’t going his way.

“As much as we talk about his offense,” Goodman said. “He can get to the basket when he wants, and he could dominate a game defensively if he puts his mind to it. His upside is higher than anybody else in the country. The question is how will he deal with some adversity? He’s going to have some two-for-12 games. Can he impact the game in other ways when that happens? Can he grab 10 rebounds? Can he dish out six or seven assists?”

To become a complete player, prospects need to find different ways to impact games. Considering that he’s the best option on the Cougars, there will be nights when Dybantsa will have to adapt to the circumstances and try to help his team by doing different stuff than scoring.

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.

Despite having offers from more traditional programs such as North Carolina, Alabama and Kansas, Dybantsa opted to stay close to home and spend his only season in college basketball in Provo, Utah.

The forward has made quite an impression among fans and analysts, with many labeling him as the No. 1 overall pick in the 2026 NBA Draft. He won the FIBA U19 Basketball World Cup with the United States national team, adding championship pedigree to his still-young career.

AJ Dybantsa compared to 3 NBA stars

While he continues to display his confidence in himself and his team, Dybantsa draws comparisons to three NBA stars. He was previously compared to Kevin Garnett, but when it comes to the current NBA, Dybantsa’s game resembles three stars.

Jed Katz of Sports Illustrated identified three players AJ Dybantsa plays similarly to: Jaylen Brown, RJ Barrett and Anthony Edwards.

Katz says that Dybantsa and Brown can finish at the rim with their athleticism, but can also create their own shot away from the paint. When it comes to Barrett, Katz notes that the Toronto Raptors player “gets downhill so well,” something that Dybantsa does at a faster pace. As for Edwards, the trash-talking ability the Minnesota Timberwolves’ star possesses is remarkable, but Dybantsa isn’t far away.

The BYU Cougars aren’t considered top contenders for the championship entering this season, but Dybantsa is aiming to take his team to the top of the competition. The challenge won’t be easy, but the freshman set that goal for his squad.

Dybantsa rejected iconic programs to join the Cougars, including North Carolina and Kansas. The young forward is one of the top prospects of his class, and he carries high expectations for his freshman season.

Dybantsa himself has made it clear he’s aiming for the national championship, adding that it’s the only option for his team. The competition won’t be easy, with programs such as UConn, Duke, and more, adding intriguing prospects to their rosters. Kansas also landed a top prospect that could be Dybantsa’s strongest competition in the 2025-26 season.

ESPN analyst says AJ Dybantsa competes with Darryn Peterson for No. 1 pick in 2026

Bobby Marks of ESPN believes that Darryn Peterson, who is set to lead Bill Self’s Kansas Jayhawks in the upcoming season, is the biggest threat to AJ Dybantsa’s hopes for the No. 1 overall pick.

“The headliners of the 2026 class are Kansas guard Darryn Peterson (ESPN’s current No. 1-ranked prospect) and BYU wing A.J. Dybantsa, with NBA teams regarding them as the two strongest contenders at the top,” he said. “NBA teams I’ve spoken with view Peterson vs. Dybantsa as a real debate at this stage. Both players will have more to prove as one-and-done freshmen, creating a major storyline entering the fall.”

College basketball has seen other freshmen join the competition ahead of what should be an entertaining season. Dybantsa and Peterson lead a pack that could make some noise in the coming months.

After a Sweet 16 elimination against Alabama last season, the Cougars are set to bounce back and make a deeper run in the NCAA tournament. Dybantsa already set his sights on a major goal, as he’s eager to take his team to the national championship.

During an interview at the 2025 NBA Summer League, the former Utah Prep star expressed his desire to make it to the top of the competition.

AJ Dybantsa’s BYU gets first-round schedule for ESPN tournament

“I think the only goal we’ve got in mind is winning a national championship,” Dybantsa told ESPN’s Jorge Sedano. “We got to the Sweet 16 last year as a first-year coach (Kevin Young), so I think we’re only gonna go farther.”

While that is a long shot, the forward is confident that his team can challenge for the title. But first, he’ll have to go through other challenges to make it to the championship game.

AJ Dybantsa and his BYU Cougars will participate in the ESPN Events Invitational in November. The FIBA U19 Basketball World Cup winner and Co. will travel to Orlando, Florida, and will begin their campaign against the Miami Hurricanes.

College basketball analyst Jon Rothstein reported on Tuesday that the duel between the Cougars and the Hurricanes would take place on Thanksgiving Day. If they move past the Hurricanes, Georgetown or Dayton will be waiting for them on Nov. 28.

Dybantsa, 18, rejected traditional programs such as Alabama, Kansas and North Carolina to join BYU, and he’s not planning to go to Provo just to be an attraction for fans. Fresh off a gold medal in the FIBA U19 Basketball World Cup, the talented forward wants to translate that success into next year’s NCAA tournament.

There’s only one thing he has in mind for his freshman season with the Cougars: winning the national championship.

AJ Dybantsa has a clear goal for his freshman season

During a brief conversation with ESPN’s Jorge Sedano at the 2025 NBA Summer League in Las Vegas, Dybantsa expressed his desire to become a national champion with the Cougars.

“I think the only goal we’ve got in mind is winning a national championship. We got to the Sweet 16 last year as a first-year coach (Kevin Young), so I think we only gonna go farther,” he said.

This wasn’t the first time he said he was aiming this high.

“National championship that’s our only goal,” Dybantsa told draft analyst Krysten Peek in an interview. “If we fall short, it’s a disappointing season.”

The Cougars were eliminated by Alabama in the Sweet 16 after beating VCU and Wisconsin. They have renewed expectations and with a player of Dybantsa’s caliber, the season could be one to remember for BYU fans.

Dybantsa uploaded another video to his channel named “Asking New Yorkers CRAZY Questions” on Wednesday. Besides the questions, he also shared some strong opinions about arguably the most beloved sports franchise in the city, the New York Knicks.

Knowing that he picked BYU over top programs such as Kansas, North Carolina and Alabama, you can tell that Dybantsa has strong beliefs and doesn’t hesitate to defend them.

AJ Dubantsa explains why the Knicks beat the Celtics in the 2025 NBA playoffs

During this video, he ran into a man wearing a UConn Huskies shirt. The forward proceeded to ask this person if he knew the Huskies would play BYU at TD Garden on Nov. 9.

After finding out this person was also a New York Knicks fan, AJ Dybantsa took the opportunity to say that they beat his Boston Celtics only because Jayson Tatum went down with a season-ending injury.

“The only reason why the Knicks beat us is because (Jayson) Tatum got hurt, and the Patriots are just the best football team of all time,” Dybantsa said. “So if you want to defend your New York, you can.”

The Knicks beat the Celtics in six games, advancing to the Eastern Conference finals, where the Indiana Pacers took them out behind a terrific performance from Tyrese Haliburton.

Notably, some even had him being a better and more well-rounded prospect than Cooper Flagg, and claimed he could’ve challenged him at the top this season.

However, they may not be as high on him anymore. According to Mike Chiari of Bleacher Report, NBA executives now think Darryn Peterson will take that spot away from him.

Darryn Peterson is the new favorite to go No. 1

“Kansas’ Darryn Peterson beat out BYU’s A.J. Dybantsa as the most likely No. 1 overall pick in the 2026 NBA draft in an anonymous poll of 20 NBA executives and scouts,” wrote Chiari. “In the poll conducted by ESPN’s Jeremy Woo, 12 execs and scouts predicted Peterson to go first overall next year, while the other eight picked Dybantsa.”

Peterson has been a notorious riser in big boards for months now, and he will most likely go back and forth with Dybantsa throughout the course of their seasons.

Even so, regardless of who gets the nod at No. 1 and who falls to No. 2, they look like two can’t-miss prospects, and whichever team gets them can’t go wrong with either of them.

A video showed the moment in which Garnett told Dybantsa that he shouldn’t run away from the grind and put in the work to improve his game.

“These kids come in like, ‘Nah, I don’t want to get in.’ Nah, you need to come in and get better, bro. You know what I’m saying?,” he told Dybantsa. “You’re going to leave here and go play somewhere else, right? Okay then, the competition is right here; let’s get it.”

AJ Dybantsa compared to Kevin Garnett

Dybantsa is fresh off a gold medal win in the FIBA U19 Basketball World Cup. He’ll now join the Cougars to try to win the national championship before he most likely becomes the No. 1 pick in the 2026 NBA Draft.

Many would say there wasn’t a better player to pass on knowledge to AJ Dybantsa than Kevin Garnett, a legend that the BYU freshman has been compared to in recent times. College basketball analyst Fran Fraschilla explained the similarities between the two players.

“I’ll try to create a visual for BYUMBB fans for what to expect from AJ Dybantsa after watching him all week at @usabjnt Under 19 practices,” Fraschilla shared. “Best description is that if Kevin Garnett came back as a small forward with his intensity, athleticism & his team-first style, that’s who the Cougars have.”

Dybantsa set high expectations for his team this season and KG’s advice may well help him achieve those goals.