Analysis: Top prep recruit AJ Dybantsa’s signing is a game-changer for BYU sports

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AJ Dybantsa poses for a picture in Provo on Oct. 11, 2024. On Tuesday, the top recruit in the country signed with BYU. | Nate Edwards, BYU Photo

The top high school basketball prospect in the country picked BYU as his college destination on Tuesday morning.

Let that sink in for a minute.

Boston native AJ Dybantsa, the consensus No. 1 recruit in all the land, is headed to Provo, at least for the next year as a “one-and-done” freshman until he almost certainly enters his name into the 2026 NBA draft. By almost all accounts, he will likely be the first player taken in said draft.

Dybantsa chose BYU over college basketball blue bloods North Carolina and Kansas. He also had Alabama in his final four, and the Crimson Tide was said to have been in his final two, along with BYU.

For the Cougars’ athletic department, and not just their basketball program, it is an absolute game-changer. It is impossible to overstate what Dybantsa’s commitment means to BYU. It is arguably one of the most monumental days in BYU sports history.

How monumental is it?

Shortly after Dybantsa’s commitment was made public, BYU’s class of 2025 team ranking in the 247Sports.com rankings went from No. 35 to No. 11. In November, BYU signed No. 31 recruit Xavion Staton and No. 123 recruit Chamberlain Burgess.

“Landmark day for the BYU Cougars,” wrote ESPN Senior NBA Insider Shams Charania.

“AJ Dybantsa is the whole package,” national basketball analyst Pat Forde said on the Field of 68 podcast Tuesday morning.

People who had not been following Dybantsa’s recruitment were shocked, evidenced by the reaction of host Steven A. Smith on ESPN’s “First Take” when the 6-foot-9 phenom who calls himself a “point forward” donned a BYU cap and removed a jacket to reveal a BYU basketball T-shirt.

“I am shocked, I ain’t gonna lie, that it is BYU,” Smith said, noting that Dybantsa could have played in the famed Duke-North Carolina rivalry if he had chosen one of those schools.

“Who said I can’t…

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Source link : https://sports.yahoo.com/analysis-top-prep-recruit-aj-193222272.html

Author : Deseret News

Publish date : 2024-12-10 19:32:00

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