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Any review of the 2025–26 BYU basketball season, which ended last Thursday with a discouraging loss to Texas in an NCAA Tournament first-round game, has to begin and end with AJ Dybantsa, the generational talent who led the country in scoring while leading the Cougars further into the national spotlight.
It will be remembered as the Season of AJ, assuming the 6-foot-9 freshman does what he really should do and enters June’s NBA draft. If BYU officials aren’t already planning to retire Dybantsa’s jersey, and hang the No. 3 in the rafters of the Marriott Center, they should start considering it.
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The 19-year-old was that impactful in just one season in Provo, as was spelled out in this article last week in the Deseret News before No. 6 seed BYU fell 79-71 to No. 11 seed Texas and was a one-and-done in the Big Dance, just like Dybantsa probably will be in the college ranks.
So that story has been told. But what about the Cougars’ season as a whole? How will the second season of the Kevin Young era go down in history?
The initial word that comes to mind, from this viewpoint, is disappointing.
Calling it a wasted season is harsh, but acknowledging that BYU squandered a golden opportunity to make a deep run in the tournament with a player who will quite likely be remembered as the greatest to ever don a BYU basketball uniform feels fair and accurate.
BYU forward AJ Dybantsa (3) listens to head coach Kevin Young during a timeout in a first-round college basketball game against Texas in the NCAA Tournament held at the Moda Center in Portland, Ore., on Thursday, March 19, 2026. | Isaac Hale, Deseret News
Earning its highest-ever preseason ranking, No. 8, in the Associated Press preseason Top 25 poll, having Dybantsa coming into the program as the No. 1 recruit in the nation, star forward Richie Saunders returning for one last hurrah, and being picked to finish second in the Big 12 put expectations for BYU at an all-time high.
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Heck, even this news outlet…
Source link : https://sports.yahoo.com/articles/did-byu-basketball-program-regress-030001242.html
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Publish date : 2026-03-25 03:00:00
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