AJ Dybantsa dazzled the crowd of 16,116 at TD Garden in Boston, Massachusetts by scoring 25 points for BYU, the most for a single player by both teams during the game, against UConn in a narrow lost to them.

For the number 1 projected draft pick in the 2026 NBA Draft, AJ Dybantsa has a lot to prove to NBA Scouts-perhaps even more than the number 1 draft pick from a year before, Cooper Flagg. This season, Dybantsa will have to balance having a successful one and done season at BYU and escaping the shadow of Flagg who is now with the Dallas Mavericks. To better understand why Dybantsa will have a chip on his shoulder coming into the college basketball season, let us examine the common and the not so common factors between the two.