Fans hyped as Kevin Young's BYU set to pair AJ Dybantsa, Rob Wright with standout Big West transfer: "Absolutely love to see it"

The BYU Cougars, coached by Kevin Young, have been tremendously busy recruiting transferees during the 2025 offseason. Earlier on Wednesday, this was bolstered with the addition of UC Riverside Highlanders guard Nate Pickens as the incoming senior made his commitment known to the program through a post on X/Twitter.

Pickens' confirmation to transfer came with a graphic of him in a Cougars jersey along with an assertive caption. Pickens now joins the likes of Baylor Bears transferee Rob Wright and the top prospect from the class of 2025 in AJ Dybantsa as the new breed of BYU players from the 2025-2026 season and potentially, moving forward.

College basketball fans were hyped when they reacted to Pickens' transfer to the Cougars.

Some fans online now better like BYU's chance for a successful campaign in the 2025-2026 season after another standout recruit commits the program's way.

Over the course of this now three-year college hoops tenure, Pickens has averaged 9.8 markers, 3.5 rebounds and 2.1 assists per contest, all with the Highlanders.

BYU Cougars have yet to make the NCAA Final Four in program history

Despite being an established collegiate basketball program nowadays with their recent appearances in the NCAA national tournament, the BYU Cougars have never actually made it to the Final Four of March Madness. Their closest ever chance to it came back in 1981, 34 years ago, when they made it to the Elite Eight.

With the insertions of standouts like AJ Dybantsa, Rob Wright and Nate Pickens, there is much excitement in the collegiate hoops scene that BYU can finally make it to their first-ever Final Four appearance. Last year, they finished the 2024-2025 season with a 26-10 overall record and made it to the Sweet 16.

About the author

Koby del Rosario is a college sports journalist at Sportskeeda who took up BS in Advertising Management at De La Salle University, one of the big "four" universities in the Philippines. Koby has over four years of experience with Complex PH, M2.0 Communications, The LaSallian, Daily Tribune, and Time Attack Manila.

Koby's favorite college team would have to be the North Carolina Tar Heels. Apart from being MJ's alma mater, Koby has always been fond of the Jordan silhouettes that release in the school's colors (being a sneakerhead himself).

His past favorite college players would have to be Russell Westbrook (UCLA) and Markelle Fultz (Washington). With Russ, his 1-2 punch with Kevin Love during their UCLA days was something Koby marveled at as Russ became his favorite player to watch post-Kobe.

Besides playing basketball, Koby enjoys nightlife, collecting sneakers, and playing video games. Apart from hosting parties and taking pictures for parties/bars/clubs, Koby is learning to DJ as a hobby with all sorts of house and hip-hop as the main genres.

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