There aren't many reasons to remain optimistic about BYU basketball in recent weeks. After all, this team has just one win over a currently-ranked foe (a 20-point comeback win against Clemson in MSG), and approaches a terrifying matchup with sixth-ranked Iowa State this weekend.
Even with potential number-one overall pick, AJ Dybantsa, lighting up the hardwood for the occasional comfortable 30-point outburst with regularity, Kevin Young's team simply isn't equipped to maneuver through the field of giants that roam the Big 12 landscape.
Dybantsa has been incredible and every bit deserving of the hype that surrounds his potential as a pro, but outside of five-star transfer point guard Rob Wright, BYU's injury bug has infected six rotation players including senior cornerstone Richie Saunders, who was enjoying a career-best 18 points per game in the year following his All-Big 12 First Team honors.
That, combined with poor performance from key contributors like Kennard Davis Jr. and Abdullah Ahmed, has led BYU basketball down a very dark path, losing against every perceivably superior opponent, and forcibly hitting a wall of quality, promising to cap this team's potential as a first or second-round exit in the upcoming NCAA Tournament.
Considering the level at which many expected this team to perform at the genesis of the season, the current state of Kevin Young's program is a hard pill to swallow.
But in the debris of BYU's road loss to fourth-ranked Arizona, careful observers may have discovered a formula for success -- a lineup capable of striking fear into even the very elite.
That lineup is an active five of Dybantsa, Wright, Davis, Mboup, and Keita.
In case you were wondering, BYU outscored Arizona 24-13 when the Rob, AJ, Davis, Mboup and Keba lineup was on the floor
— Jackson Payne (@jackson5payne) February 19, 2026
In a game that saw the visiting and hobbled Cougars draw within five points in the final 60 seconds, discovering a lineup this potent from the rubble of the original structure is like finding a fully-intact Tyrannosaurus fossil in your backyard. It's improbable, it's unthinkable, but it's certainly worth capitalizing upon.
Khadim Mboup seems to be the key contributor to this lineup's success. A savvy defender with the competitive motor and natural instincts to throw a wrench into any foe's machine, if Mboup's offensive contribution can keep pace with his defensive effort, he could be the x-factor to push BYU basketball beyond its limitations.
Could this lineup be the answer to BYU's problems, or are the Cougars doomed to wither and die in the postseason?