About five hours after BYU’s Kevin Young announced the signing of the nation’s top-rated basketball recruit, 6-foot-10 winger AJ Dybantsa, the first-year coach participated in a conference call with reporters to discuss what has been called one of the most impressive days in BYU sports history.

“It was obviously exciting,” Young said a few weeks ago of the moment the Massachusetts native, who currently lives in Hurricane, Utah and plays for Utah Prep, handed over his commitment.

“There is a lot of work behind it. Different schedules. We weren’t sure what would happen next. We tried to be very respectful of the way they wanted to go about it and the way they wanted to do things,” Young continued. “We all had a good feeling about where things were going and we managed to get it done and so it was exciting. “It was exciting for us and for AJ too.”

Shortly after Dybantsa made the commitment official on ESPN’s “First Take” Tuesday morning, BYU confirmed that the five-star prospect had indeed signed during last month’s early signing period, which ended Nov. 20.

“Dybantsa becomes the highest-rated recruit and the first five-star high school recruit to sign with the Cougars as he is considered the top recruit in the country according to all recruiting services,” read a press release from BYU, which could have been according to the NCAA rules issued only if the school had the financial aid agreement signed by Dybantsa.

Young was asked whether reports emerging on social media about Dybantsa’s NIL deal were accurate. Young reiterated what he told the Deseret News in Kansas City at Big 12 Basketball Media Days, that he pays no attention to any NIL coverage and generally doesn’t believe the numbers being thrown around are accurate.

“I’m not sure what’s going on with the different reporting and so on,” he said Tuesday. “The only thing I would say about the NIL is that (Dybantsa’s family) made it pretty clear that all the finalists were somehow operating within the same structure and the same scenarios. And that was pretty obvious when we got serious about things in this area.

“I don’t have all the gory details of what everyone did, but in dealing with the family and their people, it became pretty obvious that every school had essentially the same thing going on,” Young said.

Dybantsa’s other finalists were North Carolina, Kansas and Alabama.

BYU’s aggressive recruitment of the prep superstar was made possible from the start because of Young’s NBA pedigree. Then more pieces came together, including repeated visits to BYU. BYU’s official NIL collective, The Royal Blue, released a statement on ESPN shortly after the announcement

Young, who recruited top prospects Kanon Catchings and Egor Demin from Russia to this year’s team, said: “I don’t think I’ve run away from any expectations since I’ve been here. We want to be great. We want to get great players. We want to fight for championships. That’s why you coach. That’s why you compete. … I wanted us to do this anyway. We’re just trying to put ourselves in a position to compete with the best programs in the country both in recruiting and in actual games and in the (NCAA) tournament.”

Doubling compared to Dybantsa

Young said he began recruiting Dybantsa just days after he replaced Kentucky-bound Mark Pope in April. He was still working for the Phoenix Suns in the NBA playoffs when he learned that Utah Prep was trying to lure Dybantsa to its national power in Hurricane and took him on a tour of BYU “to take the state (of) to present.” Utah).”

He decided he had to be there, so “he sprinted out of (Suns) practice as soon as it was over, jumped in an Uber, jumped on a plane and flew to Provo,” he said. “I got all that done (meeting family in Provo), flew back and arrived in Minnesota at 3 a.m. ready to get back and continue our playoff series.”

After that initial visit with family, Young said he didn’t really have a chance to delve into recruiting Dybantsa until the prospect had narrowed down his list of finalists and BYU was on the list. Before that, he mainly had conversations with Dybantsa’s father Ace.

“AJ is a really fun young man to talk to, especially because he is so highly praised. He has a great head on his shoulders. He is very intelligent. Simply mature beyond his years.

— Kevin Young on AJ Dybansta

“AJ is a really fun young man to talk to, especially because he is so highly praised. He has a great head on his shoulders. He is very intelligent. Simply mature beyond his years. I don’t feel like I’m talking to a young high school player,” Young said. “Yeah, man, just a lot of positive things. The (BYU) staff also did an excellent job.”

Young said there was no single reason that convinced Dybantsa that BYU — which isn’t as relevant nationally in college basketball as the other finalists — was the right place for him.

“What I’m learning in recruiting is that everything fits together and everything matters,” Young said. “There is no truly singular event. Everything has an impact.”

Young said he leaned heavily on his NBA experience — and the NBA experience of his coaching and support staff — when speaking with the family because it was clear Dybantsa wanted such a role model for his only year of college basketball. The coach said there was never a moment when they were 100% sure they would get the phenomenon.

“I’m not really that guy. I have to take things to the finish line before I get too upset about anything,” he said. “Just try to stay the course, build the relationship and show them who we are from a real relationship standpoint. … We try not to go too high and not too low and continue to build that trust and that relationship. Honestly, it wasn’t until AJ himself called me and told me he was coming that I started breathing a little easier.”

What kind of basketball player will BYU get?

Dybantsa said on “First Take” that he is a combination of former NBA star Tracy McGrady and current NBA star Shai Gilgeous-Alexander of the Oklahoma City Thunder. Young said he could “definitely recognize these guys by the way Dybantsa plays and a lot more.”

“I think parts of his game are similar to a lot of great players. Defensively, he reminds me of Paul George, who I played against in the playoffs, when I saw him up close,” Young said. “Some passing plays are reminiscent of Lebron, similar to Egor (Demin).

“He’s a mix of a lot of different guys, but I like the confidence he has with how he goes out there and tries to be himself. He doesn’t try to be someone else,” Young continued. “But what I love most about his game is that he really tries to play the game the right way.

“For someone as lauded as he is, there have been times when I have gone to his games and wished he would be even more aggressive than him to score more goals. He really tries to play the game the right way, and most great players I’ve been around have that in common.”

Young said he won’t fully know Dybantsa’s strengths and weaknesses until he can coach him on a daily basis, but will help him find areas where he can differentiate himself and make him the No. 1 pick in the 2026 NBA Draft will make the goal.

“From the start, I will challenge his ability to guard the other team’s best player. I think he has the ability to be a lockdown defender. And if he wants to be a great NBA player, he has to take a lot of pride in that and be able to really stand out,” Young said. “And then just the decision making. I think every time you take a step up, even as talented as he is, the game becomes a lot faster, the game is a lot more physical.

“People are going to be at his helm, no question, so just try to spend time with him and show him what some of the shifts look like when it comes to him making decisions with the ball in his hands and so on .” Nature.”