What AJ Dybantsa said about BYU’s winning streak, his latest NBA draft projections — and more
The Cougars prized recruit made a prerecorded appearance Thursday on ‘BYU Sports Nation’
AJ Dybantsa likes what he sees from BYU.
The Cougars have won five straight games, and their prized recruit is plenty excited about it.
“I’m seeing a lot of chemistry,” Dybantsa said in a prerecorded Thursday appearance on “BYU Sports Nation.” “I think that they’ve been bonding off the court. I can just see it, like we’re throwing lobs, we’re seeing guys in the corner that teams wouldn’t see. So I think that bond is really like sparking on the court now.”
Here are some other notable highlights from Dybantsa’s appearance on “BYU Sports Nation.”
On BYU’s dominant win over Kansas
“That was crazy, because obviously Kansas is always right in the top 25. So it was going to be a hard-fought game, and obviously I was excited, but I was like, ‘Wait, this isn’t supposed to happen rankings-wise.’ But I mean, I had faith in my guys and we pulled it off.”
On the controversial foul call at the end of the BYU-Arizona game this past weekend
“The ref called a foul, so it was a foul. The ref called a foul. I think if it was called a foul, it was called a foul. I have no say. I’m not a ref, I’m a basketball player.”
On possibly playing alongside Richie Saunders next season
“I’ll be fun next year. Hopefully he doesn’t leave us (for the NBA), but it will be fun next year, for sure.”
On the possibility of coming to a BYU team without Richie Saunders and Egor Demin next year
“I think we’ll fit in just fine. I think we’ll have two to three guys guaranteed coming back who play major minutes anyway. So I mean, we’re still going to be in the top-25 poll, and we’re still going to make a turnaround, I think.”
On playing alongside fellow BYU commit Xavion Staton on Utah Prep
“The Arizona game we watched, we came back after our (high school) game and we watched the second half. It was like bucket after bucket. We were screaming. So I think Xavion posted on his (Instagram) story that we were watching it together. But we can’t watch all the games because we play at similar times sometimes, but we do watch a couple of games together.”
On being projected as the No. 2 overall pick in ESPN’s latest 2026 NBA mock draft
“I didn’t even see that, so that’s news to me. But I mean, it’s always a blessing to be in the top, in that lottery rank, because it’s a blessing to get drafted.
“But I mean, we try to aim for the top, so we’re trying to get that number one spot. I’m still a mock draft, so we still got a year to work, so we’ll be fine.
“There’s been guys that have been unranked, there’s been (lottery picks), there’s been guys that have been top three picks that aren’t in the NBA no more, so it’s just (doesn’t) really matter, I’m just trying to get (to the NBA) and try to work.”
