BYU’s AJ Dybantsa will represent USA Basketball at the 2025 FIBA U19 World Cup in Lausanne, Switzerland from June 28-July 6.

The Americans are looking to win the gold for a ninth time as they were drawn into Group D and will square off against Australia, France and Cameroon. The U.S. holds a 4-2 record all-time against Australia in U19 action. They are 6-1 against France and will face Cameroon for the first time.

Group play for the 17th edition of the World Cup begins on Saturday, June 28, with the Round of 16 matchups set for Wednesday, July 2. The quarterfinals will be played on Friday, July 4, followed by the semi-finals on Saturday, July 5. The final is scheduled for Noon MT on Sunday, July 6.

Dybantsa, rated as the top prospect at the World Cup according to FIBA, is joined on the roster by Mikel Brown Jr., Caleb Holt, Daniel Jacobsen, Jasper Johnson, JJ Mandaquit, Morez Johnson Jr., Nik Khamenia, Brandon McCoy Jr., Koa Peat, Jordan Smith Jr. and Tyran Stokes.

The No. 1 high school recruit in the country was a member of the 2025 USA Men’s Nike Hoop Summit team that defeated the World Select team 124-114 in overtime. He scored a game-high 24 points to go along with six rebounds, five assists and three steals.

No stranger to representing USA Basketball on the international level, Dybantsa averaged 14.1 points, 4.1 assists, 3.9 rebounds and 1.6 steals per game at the 2024 FIBA U17 World Cup where he was named to the All-Star Five. He scored in double figures in all three knockout-round games, including a 14-point performance in the final against Italy, helping the Americans secure their seventh straight title.

He also averaged 13.7 points and 3.7 assists per game at the 2023 FIBA U16 Americas Championships where the Americans went 6-0 with an average margin victory of 64.0 points. In their 82-point victory over Canada in the final, 118-36, Dybantsa had 12 points, seven rebounds and five assists in 18 minutes of action.

Team USA U19 World Cup Basketball Group D Schedule

Saturday, June 28 Australia, 9:15 pm (FIBA Basketball on You Tube)

Sunday, June 29 France, noon (FIBA Basketball on You Tube)

Tuesday, July 1 Cameroon, 9:15 a.m. (FIBA Basketball on You Tube)

Women’s basketball hires two new assistant coaches

BYU head coach Lee Cummard announced the hiring of  former Cougar Paisley Johnson-Harding and Andrew Curtis as the Cougars’ newest assistant coaches on Thursday afternoon.

Johnson-Harding will enter her second season on the Division I sidelines when she joins the BYU bench this season under her former assistant coach, Cummard. The three-time All-WCC First Team honoree began her college coaching career as an assistant to Utah Valley head coach and former BYU associate head coach Dan Nielson.

“Paisley is one of us and bleeds BYU blue,” said Cummard. “She loves this place and is committed to helping these athletes and this program excel. Paisley is an extremely hard worker, a team player and aligns perfectly with the values of our program and this university. We couldn’t be more thrilled to have one of the all-time greats back in our program.”

In her one season in Orem, Johnson-Harding helped the Wolverines to a 19-13 record and their first postseason trip since 2020-21 as Utah Valley advanced to the second round of the WNIT. Johnson-Harding was key in the development of three All-WAC honorees: Co-Sixth Player of the Year Kylee Mabry, All-Defensive Team selection Tahlia White and Cambree Blackham, who earned an All-Freshman nod.

Prior to UVU, Johnson-Harding coached at Timpview High School in Provo, where she helped lead the Thunderbirds to a region title. Before entering the coaching world, Johnson-Harding spent training camp with the WNBA’s Seattle Storm in 2022 before playing professionally in Germany’s top league for the GiroLive Panthers in Osnabrück for the 2022-23 season. She also suited up for Seattle Force 10 on the Red Bull 3×3 Circuit.

As a player at BYU, Johnson-Harding led the Cougars to three NCAA Tournament appearances and two conference titles, the 2019 WCC Tournament title and the 2022 WCC regular season championship. She also etched her name into the BYU record books, sitting in the top 20 of 19 statistical categories.

Johnson-Harding is the all-time leader in games played (146), second in minutes played (4,363), fifth in games started (116), sixth in total points (1,938), seventh in 3-point field goals made (220), free throws made (392) and free throw percentage (.775), ninth in field goals made (663), 10^th in 3-point field goals per game (1.51), 11^th in minutes played per game (29:53), 12^th in assists (506), 14^th in points per game (13.27), 16^th in 3-point percentage (.354) and 17^th in steals (177).

Johnson-Harding is a native of Everett, Washington. She is married to former men’s basketball player Connor Harding and graduated from BYU in 2022 with a degree in sociology.

Curtis comes to BYU with experience coaching at the highest levels of Arizona high school basketball. He has spent the last nine seasons as the head coach of the Perry High School girls’ basketball team, in which time he led the Pumas to the 6A State Finals in 2022 and 2024, the Open Final Four in 2023 and won the Premier Region Title in 2020 and 2023. He was named the Arizona Premier Region Coach of the Year in 2023 and the CUSD Coach of the Year in 2022, 2023 and 2024.

“Andrew brings a wealth of experience at the grassroots level of basketball,” said Cummard. “He has coached great teams and helped develop elite players over his many years in the coaching profession. He’s a basketball addict and eats, sleeps and breathes hoops. We are very glad he wanted to join our program and help it be great.”

Prior to his time with the Pumas, Curtis was an assistant coach for the boys’ varsity team at Corona del Sol, where he mentored the school’s all-time leading scorer and former BYU men’s basketball All-American, Alex Barcello.

The Mesa, Arizona, native graduated in 2015 from Northern Arizona University with a bachelor’s degree in criminal justice. Curtis served in the United States Navy as a Master-At-Arms from 2007-11 with stops in Washington and Sasebo, Japan. Before his time in the Navy, Curtis was also a three-sport athlete at Desert Ridge High School, where he played basketball, baseball and football.

Curtis and his wife, Amy, are the parents of three children: Aria, AJ and Alexander.