AJ Dybantsa. The greatest BYU basketball recruit of all time and the -- forgive my blasphemy here -- savior of Kevin Young's NBA pipeline. The number one recruit in all the land and projected number one pick in his NBA draft class, Dybantsa is a man among boys; a leader of men. A high school student who's already being heavily promoted by Nike as the next man up.
And he's a BYU Cougar.
With no affiliation to the university's sponsor religion, Dybantsa's decision to spend his single season of collegiate eligibility in Provo, Utah was a shocking decision for much of the nation.
Frankly, it was shocking for BYU fans as well.
A recent meeting with 5-Star Kansas commit Darryn Peterson may have put Dybantsa's position as the untouchable top prospect in his recruiting class into question. Not because AJ was bad, of course, but because Peterson showed he could match BYU's future star step-for-step in a head-to-head matchup.
Dybantsa's Utah Prep squad squared off against Prolific Prep and Darryn Peterson for a tournament game in Atlanta where Dybantsa's 49 points were overshadowed by Peterson collecting 58 points of his own and the win.
No. 2 player in the country, Darryn Peterson JUST WENT OFF for 58 in a win against No. 1 player in the country AJ Dybantsa and Utah Prep 😳 @PetersonDarryn (via @thegrindsession ) pic.twitter.com/DW4n9CqcJH
— B/R Hoops (@brhoops) February 9, 2025
Does this one game mean that Peterson is the new undisputed top player in basketball? No. Not by a long shot. One game does not determine everything about a basketball player's status, career, or legacy (unless your name is Jalen "81 on your head" Rose), especially when Dybantsa still boasted an incredible statline of his own.
Basketball is a mysterious world of hypotheticals, but BYU knows one fact for certain: they wouldn't rather have anyone coming to play under the Marriott Center lights than AJ Dybantsa.