AJ Dybantsa is putting up numbers that don’t even make sense. The BYU freshman just became the first Division I player in the last 30 seasons to average at least 25 points, 5 rebounds, and 5 assists on 60 percent shooting in a calendar month. That’s not a typo. Nobody has done it in three decades, and he’s doing it as a freshman in the Big 12.
The baseline is five games, and he’s cleared that with ease. It’s not a small sample. It’s just a ridiculous one. Dybantsa isn’t just scoring either. He’s doing it efficiently, moving the ball, crashing the glass, and looking like the best player on the floor more often than not. BYU needed someone to take over when league play started, and he’s turned into the guy without much hesitation.
What stands out is how easy he makes it look. There’s nothing wild about the way he plays. In the nicest way possible, he has old-man game. That might sound like an insult, but in today’s era of college basketball, someone who can control the pace of a game and take down defenses one-on-one or one-on-five is rare.
And then there’s the efficiency. Shooting 60 percent from the field while carrying that kind of load isn’t supposed to happen. Not in this league. Not this early. But here we are. Dybantsa’s doing it, and it doesn’t look fluky at all.
While the upcoming NBA Draft class has seen its fair share of players projected No. 1 overall, Dybantsa is making it tougher and tougher to ignore. Could it be Darryn Peterson? Could it be Cam Boozer? Could it be Dybantsa? It’s tough to say, but this much is clear: Dybantsa is the real deal, and right now, nobody’s playing better basketball than him.
