BYU landed its first five-star basketball recruit of the trendy period in a giant boon to its future prospects Tuesday as highly-regarded Class of 2025 wing AJ Dybantsa, the No. 1 recruit within the class based on 247Sports, selected the Cougars over a last record of suitors that included Alabama, Kansas and North Carolina.
Dybantsa is a 6-foot-9 prospect from Massachusetts who headlines a loaded group of incoming school prospects subsequent yr in what’s shaping as much as be a probably deep 2026 NBA Draft class. He is taking part in his senior yr at Hurricane Prep in Utah, positioned a number of hours south of Provo. He performed at Prolific Prep in California previous to that, the place throughout his time there he reclassified from the 2026 class to the 2025 class.
“I feel their improvement might be second to none and I see what they’re doing with Egor Demin and Kanon Catchings and I feel that I could possibly be in that place,” Dybantsa instructed 247Sports’ Eric Bossi. “Coach Young, the best way he offered his program, he is not going to sugarcoat something and he will maintain me to requirements, NBA requirements, and he is coached a few of my favourite gamers within the league in order that was all a plus.”
Dybantsa’s reclassification makes him draft-eligible for the 2026 draft and positions him because the way-too-early favourite to go No. 1 in a star-studded class that will embrace the Duke-bound Boozer twins and Kansas-bound Darryn Peterson. He was the No. 1 participant in his 2026 class earlier than reclassifying and has been the No. 1 participant within the 2025 class at 247Sports since his transfer up.
Future potential for Dybantsa as an NBA participant is simply a part of the explanation he is rocketed up the rankings and is extensively considered as the most effective basketball prospects on the planet. He made his mark on the FIBA circuit with Team USA on the U16 workforce that gained a gold medal and has elite measurables with the manufacturing, besides.
Here’s 247Sports’ Adam Finkelstein on how he views Dybantsa:
A 6-foot-9 jumbo wing with a wingspan exceeding 7 toes, an rising 200-plus-pound body and a complicated understanding of find out how to rating from his spots (even in a half-court recreation), AJ Dybantsa is the perfect prospect in highschool basketball.
Dybantsa possesses a deadly pull-up recreation with a excessive launch and a clean ball rotation. He’s been a celebrated prospect since earlier than he entered highschool. Yet he has prevented the pitfalls of early stardom by persistently enhancing his recreation at every stage. He was the main scorer within the 2023 Peach Jam as an underclassman and exhibits flashes of untapped potential on protection because of his measurement and motion abilities.
The backside line is that this: Dybantsa controls his personal future. If he continues on his present path, then there is not any one in highschool basketball with extra potential than him.
BYU has lengthy been thought of the frontrunner to safe Dybantsa however Alabama and North Carolina made issues fascinating within the last weeks of his recruitment after internet hosting him for official visits in September. The Cougars landed the ultimate official go to of his fall journeys in October that will have helped seal the deal.
It’s a significant coup for BYU and an enormous win for first-year coach Kevin Young specifically as he fashions this system to his liking and makes a reputation for himself within the Big 12. Young has hit already within the recruiting path with five-star freshman Egor Demin, who seems to be like a possible lottery decide, and now has a top-25 class within the works led by Dybantsa and signees Xavion Staton and Chamberlain Burgess.
