"Hope this keeps happening" "Made a mistake": Hoops fans react as AJ Dybantsa joins unique list of 5-star recruits ft. Anthony Edwards, Ace Bailey

AJ Dybantsa has made waves in the basketball world by joining a rare group of five-star recruits who chose not to attend traditional blue blood schools, a move sparking conversation across social media.

Instead of heading to programs like Duke, Kentucky, Indiana, Kansas, or North Carolina, the highly-touted forward committed to the BYU Cougars.

BR Hoops shared the update on Instagram, noting that Dybantsa is following in the footsteps of elite players who did not attend the traditional blue bloods.

Fans flooded the comments section with a mix of reactions.

“Hope this keeps happening. Keeps it interesting,” one user wrote.

“A different route” and they just didn’t go to a blue blood,” another user added.

“Half of these players went diff route because of family being hired on staff. If it wasn’t for that they would be at blue blood lmao,” a fan commented.

Others praised the trend.

“This is what 5 stars are naturally supposed to do. No different than the worst NBA teams getting the best prospects in the draft,” one said.

However, not all were impressed.

“Those routes all came with mid seasons,” one pointed out.

“And every single one of them made a mistake,” another fan said bluntly.

Dybantsa follows the footsteps of players like Anthony Edwards (Georgia), Ace Bailey (Rutgers), Cade Cunningham (Oklahoma State), Trae Young (Oklahoma), Dylan Harper (Rutgers), Darius Garland (Vanderbilt), Jalen Green (G League Ignite), Jason Crowe Jr. (UCLA), Michael Porter Jr. (Missouri), GG Jackson (South Carolina), Patrick Baldwin Jr. (Milwaukee), and Cody Williams (Colorado), all five-star recruits who did not go to blue-blood schools.

With Dybantsa heading to BYU, the Cougars land the highest-rated recruit in their program’s history. The 6-foot-9 forward is widely considered one of the top players in the 2025 class and has received national attention for his potential.

AJ Dybantsa sees chemistry building with his new teammates

Dybantsa has had a busy summer, representing the United States at the FIBA U-19 World Cup amidst other NIL-related trips.

However, he has now returned to BYU, getting ready for the new season, and he can see the team's chemistry building.

“We had a couple practices last week,” Dybantsa said, speaking to Deseret. “It was optional, but a lot of us opted in. For people who haven’t played together for long, I can definitely see the chemistry getting along … it was just crazy that we haven’t played (together) a lot and the chemistry was still there.”

Dybantsa is coming with a lot of hype and will hope he can help the Cougars make a deep run next season.

About the author

Babatunde Kolawole is a college sports journalist at Sportskeeda with over eight years of experience in the field with Canoncrested.com, Garbersports.com, LiveScore Bet Nigeria and Pulse Sports Nigeria.

Kolawole studied Agricultural Economics on the tertiary level but delved into sports writing after school. Over half a decade later, the experience garnered helped him land this role.

Historically, the Alabama Crimson Tide stands out as Kolawole's favorite team as he was drawn to their rich history.

As for basketball, JuJu Watkins is Kolawole's favorite current player due to how much diversity she has in her game, while Kareem Abdul-Jabbar gets the nod for past players because of how he dominated with UCLA.

Kolawole has appeared on several TV and Radio shows as a guest analyst, and in his spare time, likes to watch movies (a sucker for the Marvel Cinematic Universe) and listen to a lot of music. He also loves to travel.

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Edited by Gio Vergara