BYU basketball fans got to see the nation’s number one college recruit in action this past Thursday and were given a little taste of what the season holds.
BYU basketball opened its season with “Marriott Madness,” an event aimed at getting people excited for the upcoming basketball season. The first 8,000 students in the Marriot Center received a student-section exclusive jersey to wear for the entire basketball season.
With their brand-new game-day threads on, students flooded the Marriot Center to not only get a sneak peek of their favorite team, but to see 5-star recruit Aj Dybansta put on the royal blue BYU uniform for the first time.
“I’m just excited to watch AJ,” said student Michael Jones. “I’ve heard all the hype about him.”
“Defense and offense wasn’t bad last year but just being able to stretch the floor a bit more and Aj hopefully being able to add to that, I think should make things way more fun,” fellow student Carter Collett said.
A group of girls laughed as they admitted that they hadn’t heard of Dybansta before – most of them weren’t from Utah. But one of the girls took the challenge of telling the others all about the number one recruit.
“I haven’t heard much about him, but I am excited to see him play,” student Sophie LeSuer said. “We’re not from Utah, but she was telling us how he’s the number one recruit and supposedly going to be really good, so we’ll see what he can bring to the team.”
Senior guard Richie Saunders will be joined by senior center Keba Keita as two of the most notable stars returning to the lineup this year. Along with Aj Dybansta, BYU picked up the number one junior college recruit. Guard Kj Perry will join a stacked BYU squad which fans believe could be a championship level team.
“I’m excited to see how the team does overall and how far we can get,” said Hannah Lob.
Student John Henderson said, “I’m expecting Final Four, if I’m being honest. We made it to the Sweet Sixteen last year, and with the talent we have, we’ve got to be expecting Final Four.”
“I’m hoping for big things,” Collett said. “I think we have the most talented backcourt in the nation right now. We’ve got Richie Saunders, Rob Wright and Aj Dybansta, so I think we can contend with anybody. If we don’t win a national championship, it’s going to be a disappointment.”
The Preseason Associated Press Top 25 Poll found the BYU Cougars in the number eight spot, up five spots from last year. They are the second Big 12 Conference team in the Top 25 behind the number two seeded Houston Cougars.
This upcoming season will be one for the history books, and fans are ready and geared up for another big season of college basketball.