Can freshman star AJ Dybantsa lead surging BYU on a lengthy NCAA Tournament run?

In his NCAA Men’s Basketball Tournament bracket released Monday, Michael Cohen of Fox Sports predicts that whichever team emerges from Tuesday’s First Four game in Dayton, Texas or North Carolina State, will beat No. 6 seed BYU in a first-round game in Portland on Thursday.

“Biggest first-round upset,” Cohen says, along with No. 11 South Florida over No. 6 Louisville in the East Region.

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In the same article, former college and NBA player Casey Jacobsen, now a studio host and game analyst for the network, picks BYU to knock off the No. 11 seed, then beat Gonzaga and Miami and make it to the Elite Eight against Arizona in the West Region.

Then there’s this headline on the NBC Sports website: “BYU is in trouble.”

In that podcast featuring Vaughn Dalzell, Nicolle Auerbach and John Fanta, Dalzell says the following:

“I am looking at a six seed who is going to lose no matter who they play as the 11 seed. That’s the BYU Cougars. I have waited all year to fade this team in March. This is the third-worst-rated defense in the Big 12,” Dalzell says. “I love AJ Dybantsa. He’s going to be a top-two pick in the NBA draft. But he cannot do it all himself. Once they had a few injuries (to Dawson Baker, Richie Saunders), they just looked like a totally different team.

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“We are talking about a team that allows 40% from 3 in Big 12 play, only forces a turnover 13% of the time. If you can run on them, you can beat them. If you can slow them down, you can beat them,” Dalzell continued. “Texas or NC State, they should be thrilled they are in this First Four matchup, because whoever plays BYU is going to beat BYU, in my opinion.”

The Cougars (23-11) will face the Texas-NC State winner Thursday (5:25 p.m. MDT, TBS) at Moda Center in Portland, with the winner of that game facing the Gonzaga-Kennesaw State winner Saturday.

The point is that predictions for BYU among national analysts are all over the board, but most so-called experts have low…

Source link : https://sports.yahoo.com/articles/freshman-star-aj-dybantsa-lead-030001335.html

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Publish date : 2026-03-17 03:00:00

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