Bruce Branch, AJ Dybantsa prove that money isn't everything in the age of NIL

To suggest that BYU's recruiting success is primarily attributed to its vast stores of NIL cash would be an absolute fallacy. The school's athletic budget has certainly increased since the monetary chains of amateurism were released by the NCAA, and in turn, the Cougars have witnessed a sharp increase in the rating of their recruiting classes -- no one is denying this.

But the narrative that BYU basketball is built on greenbacks alone is shallow, and frankly ridiculous as five-star prospects continue to flow into Provo for a year of college hoops.

One is an outlier.

Two is a coincidence.

Three is a pattern.

When Kevin Young arrived at BYU in the wake of Mark Pope's departure to Kentucky, he constructed a platform of translating his NBA expertise to collegiate development. Simply put, he wanted to run BYU hoops as he would an NBA organization. And he's delivered when it comes to luring NBA talent into his program.

Egor Demin, a 5-star international point guard out of Real Madrid's youth program, signed with Kevin Young, adding tangibility to BYU's lofty goals in a foundational season. The very next year, BYU signed AJ Dybantsa, the top recruit in his high school class and current favorite to be selected with the number one overall pick in the upcoming NBA Draft.

Approaching Young's third year behind the wheel, the sixth-ranked recruit in the 2026 class, Bruce Branch III, announced his commitment to BYU on ESPN.

Three straight seasons -- three straight five-star recruits. An unprecedented run for BYU basketball.

And the pattern doesn't point to young kids simply following the money. The pattern is head coach Kevin Young.

He's built an NBA-quality organization within BYU's basketball program. With professional-grade facilities, coaches, dieticians, and philosophy, Young's recruiting pitch is built on BYU's ability to prepare young players for the next step in their career, rather than simply a brief stop on their journey to the pros.

There are blue-blood teams across the nation -- Duke, Carolina, Kansas, UConn, etc -- with the financial backing and historical success to lure top prospects onto their campus. And they do. Just take a look at Dybantsa's competition for the number-one pick this summer, who attend Kansas and Duke. If these teams needed to get into a bidding war, BYU would be supremely disadvantaged with just money as their bartering chip. After all, what's the difference between several million dollars give or take a couple hundred thousand, when the ever-lucrative NBA awaits just one year later?

Shouldn't reaching the NBA be the ultimate goal for these recruits? After all, even the wildest NCAA offerings (Dybantsa has been rumored to earn as much as $7 million in Provo, though these numbers haven't been confirmed) pale in comparison to a rookie contract, which will be worth $14,517,480 for the number-one selection this year.

BYU comes with its own set of drawbacks (honor code restrictions, location, lack of historical success). Even if Kevin Young and his army of NIL backers could outbid their competition outright, would you take an extra $100,000ish dollars if that means you can't have premarital sex, drink coffee or tea, and live according to every aspect of the LDS church's code of conduct?

No, BYU provides a completely unique opportunity for players. Under the guidance of an experienced NBA-level coach, the Provo campus provides a boot camp where prospects can limit distractions and focus on fine-tuning their game to approach a career in the NBA.

Not to mention the parental factor: parents want to send their children to a place they can stay out of trouble.

Dybantsa admitted during a recent interview with Deseret News that BYU wasn't even going to make his top-six schools as he explored the recruiting process, but that all changed when his father, Ace Dybantsa, convinced him to reconsider.

Top-level recruits have spent their only collegiate season at some pretty surprising locations. Remember Cade Cunningham at Oklahoma State? Ben Simmons at LSU? Markelle Fultz at Washington? Dylan Harper and Ace Bailey at Rutgers?

So with Branch's commitment marking the third such recruit in as many years under Kevin Young. This is not a one-off recruiting miracle -- one is an outlier, two is a coincidence, but three is a pattern. For one reason or another, BYU basketball is routinely recruiting some of the best players in the nation, and they're not the only school with deep pockets.