Sure, it wasn't the regular season many had expected out of BYU basketball, but there's plenty still to celebrate at the twilight of Kevin Young's 2025-26 Cougs.
And as the college basketball calendar flips to March and once again to March Madness, we'd be wise to take a moment to appreciate the journey before jumping off a cliff. Take, for example, the release of the Big 12 regular season awards, which have just been released to the public and have left plenty scratching their heads.
AJ Dybantsa was not named the Big 12 Player of the Year, though that can't be completely unexpected after a season that saw his Cougars slide all the way down to the 10 seed in the league standings. That honor fell to Arizona's Jaden Bradley, the cultural leader of the top-seed Wildcats, but an unorthodox selection for a team that was positively stuffed with talent from top to bottom.
Still, Dybantsa's name wasn't absent from the Big 12 awards of course. Nor was Richie Saunders, who was awarded All-Big 12 First Team Honors as a junior, but had his year derailed with an ACL injury in the final weeks of the season. Even Rob Wright, whose season was up-and-down (though mostly up), is getting in on the action.
So one and all, please turn your attention to the Big 12 Conference Men's Basketball Award Show, hosted by Willy Wildcat.
BYU basketball players in All-Big 12 teams
AJ Dybantsa: Freshman of the Year, All-Big 12 First Team
Dybantsa's name absolutely belongs in the Big 12 history books, as the freshman carried a beaten and withered BYU basketball team to top-10 wins over Iowa State and Texas Tech, posted a BYU freshman-record 43 points against rival Utah, and led the entire nation in scoring.
Winning Freshman of the Year means a great deal this season, in a year where Dybantsa's competition includes other likely lottery picks from across the league like Houston's Kingston Flemings, Arizona's Koa Peat, oh, and the potential number one overall selection, Darryn Peterson out of Kansas.
Dybantsa was also one of three unanimous selections for the All-Big 12 First Team, sharing that distinction with Texas Tech's JT Toppin, whose late injury potentially cost him Player of the Year honors for the second straight season, and Kingston Flemings.
Richie Saunders: All-Big 12 Second Team
The heart and soul of BYU's basketball team, Saunders was enjoying an equally incredible senior season -- including a 30+ point performance in Allen Fieldhouse -- as "Glue Guy Prime" until his ACL gave out against Colorado near the end of the season. It's difficult to say whether Saunders would have reached the All-Big 12 First Team had he stayed healthy (JT Toppin managed to reach that peak despite suffering an injury around the same time), but now, as a leader on Kevin Young's bench, Saunders' impact spans well beyond his performance on the court.
Robert Wright III: All-Big 12 Third Team
Wright rounds out the Big 3 and gives BYU basketball its third All-Big 12 honoree this season, a record for the program, not including honorable mentions. Wright, as an unstoppable ball-handler and BYU's most reliable three-point shooter (let us never forget the buzzer-beater against Clemson), initiated the Cougars' offense and shouldered a much heavier load with Saunders' injury.