Heady stuff for the program, to be sure.

The great Danny Ainge was a first team All-American at the end of the 1980-81 season where he led the Cougars to the Elite 8, but he was not a first team preseason All-American, a list that included DePaul’s Mark Aguirre, Virginia’s Ralph Sampson, Indiana’s Isiah Thomas, Maryland’s Albert King and Kentucky’s Sam Bowie.

Jimmer Fredette had a pretty good junior year heading into what would be a dazzling senior campaign and was selected as a preseason Associated Press All-American back in 2010, which is five players so that would be considered first team according to BYU men’s basketball Director of Communications Tyson Jex.

Sports Reference lists only seven BYU players who have been named consensus first or second team All-Americans: Ainge (1981, 1st), Devin Durrant (1984, 2nd), Fredette (2011, 1st), Mel Hutchins (1951, 2nd), Joe Richey (1953, 2nd), Elwood Romney (1931 (1st) and Michael Smith (1988, 2nd).

Dybantsa has led the Cougars in scoring in three of the first four Cougar outings, including a pair of exhibitions (30 points vs. Nebraska, 18 vs. North Carolina) and 21 against Villanova. Dybantsa scored 17 against Holy Cross in the home opener on Saturday.

Here’s the news release from BYU about Dybantsa’s honor:

BYU’s AJ Dybantsa was named Sporting News Preseason First Team All-American on Monday morning.

The 6-foot-9 forward from Brockton, Mass. was joined on the list by Purdue’s Braden Smith, Texas Tech’s JT Toppin, Kentucky’s Otega Oweh and Kansas’ Darryn Peterson.

Through two games of his collegiate career, Dybantsa is averaging 19.0 points, 7.0 rebounds and 3.0 assists per game while shooting 57.1 percent from the field, 33.3 percent from three and 50.0 percent from the free throw line.

He became the fifth freshman in program history to score 20 or more points in a debut with his 21-point performance in BYU’s 71-66 win over Villanova at Hall of Fame Series Las Vegas. He went 9-of-18 from the field against the Wildcats, including knocking down his only attempt from three.

The freshman followed that up with a 17-point, 8-rebound performance on Saturday in a 98-53 victory over Holy Cross. In his first-ever game at the Marriott Center, Dybantsa went 7-of-10 from the field and 3-of-3 from the charity stripe as BYU extended its non-conference home win streak to 21 games.

G League center commits to BYU

NCAA men’s basketball is a pretty wild place with the transfer portal and NIL, but there’s an addition to the chaos: Apparently, professional basketball players can now become college athletes.

Abdullah Ahmed, a 6-foot-10 center who has been playing for the Westchester Knicks  in the G League, has committed to play for Kevin Young and the Cougars in 2026-27. The NCAA has cleared the 22-year old and he will have somewhere between two and three years of college eligibility.

Ahmed had BYU and NCAA runner-up Houston as his final two teams.

Ahmed has played 12 games in his second season for the Knicks (starting six) and has averaged 4.7 points and 3.9 rebounds per game. With current starting center Keba Keita listed as a senior for BYU, Ahmed could fill that spot next season as a physical post presence.

Ahmed becomes the second native of Egypt to play for BYU, following Aly Khalifa, who spent one season in Provo (2023-24) after transferring from Charlotte and has since transferred to Louisville.