BYU star AJ Dybantsa has led the No. 9 Cougars to a 6-1 start to the season after they beat the Dayton Flyers 83-79 on Saturday. Dybantsa tallied 18 points, four rebounds, and three assists to continue his impressive start to his college basketball career. Dybantsa, who was the No. 1-ranked prospect in the class of 2025, according to ESPN, is widely expected to emulate former Duke Blue Devils star Cooper Flagg and get picked No. 1 overall during the 2026 NBA Draft.
AJ Dybantsa Reveals Inspiration From Cooper Flagg’s Draft Journey
During an interview on “NBA Today” from last week, Dybantsa revealed the lessons he learned from how Flagg handled being the No. 1 prospect in college basketball on his way to being the No. 1 draft pick.
“Just him playing team basketball,” Dybantsa said.”Obviously, number one player entering, ended up being the number one pick. But a lot of guys thought he was gonna do this, do that and shoot how he wanted and no, he played the right way. Played with his team and ended up going to the Final Four.”
Flagg led the Blue Devils to both the ACC regular season and tournament championships before falling narrowly to the Houston Cougars in the Final Four of the 2025 NCAA Tournament. He was picked No. 1 overall by the Dallas Mavericks in the 2026 NBA Draft.
BYU coach Kevin Young, who has had an extensive coaching career in the NBA, coaching 31 lottery picks, including Kevin Durant, was a key reason why Dybantsa snubbed the traditional blue bloods in college basketball to commit to the Cougars.
During an interview with ESPN, Young revealed his advice to Dybantsa about possibly being his class’s No. 1 pick on draft night. “The message from me to him was more than the No. 1 pick,” Young said.
“No. 1 pick only matters on draft night. I’m trying to talk to him about what’s going to separate him from his peers. And to me, it’s making the right play, which he’s very capable of. It’s being able to score the ball, which he’s very capable of, and it’s being a dog defensively, which he’s very capable of. If he can do those three things, I think it would be really hard to not take him at No. 1, given his size and all the intangible things he has as well.”
Dybantsa is regularly ranked as the class’s best draft prospects alongside Kansas Jayhawks guard Darryn Peterson and Duke Blue Devils forward Cameron Boozer, both of whom have had impressive starts to their college basketball careers.