NEW YORK — Regardless of which franchise picks him first, second or third next year. NBA Draft, AJ Dybanz will inevitably play who knows how many games at Madison Square Garden over the next 10, 12, maybe even 15 years of his life.
And yet, for whatever it is NBA glory may lie in wait for the next ten years, there's no guarantee that any of his future games in this hallowed building will be as impressive or special as what the 18-year-old did in his debut Tuesday night at the Jimmy V Classic in BYU's record-setting 67-64 win. Clemson.
It was the night AJ Dybanza arrived as an elite college player.
However, the decisive throw, ironically, was not made by Dybantsa. Sophomore guard Rob Wright III was the hero at the last second, draining a three that sent Cougar fans into hysterics.
“Just go ahead and give it to me,” Wright told the elder. Mihailo Boskovic before the play even unfolded.
BYU The coaching staff later told me that the play, which has several names, all of which they keep secret, was Richie Saunders as the first option, Dybanca as the second and Wright III as, what else, the third. So: Saunders was covered twice when he tried to open up. Dybantsa jerked, but did not immediately free himself. In the flaming Wright who divided the space between the freshman Zach Foster and senior Butta Johnson and opened a cavity that gave him free rein to lift No. 10 BYU to 8-1 in this last notable non-conference game of the regular season.
Wright said it was his first game-winning 3-pointer in his life.
But the only reason BYU was even able to win after Wright's shot was because Dibanza broke through and showed brilliance as the No. 1 overall pick. Years later, when we look back at the beginning of his journey, we remember this particular game. In the same way, we remember Carmelo Anthony's debut on Syracuse arrival at MSG in 2002 and the moment of Zion Williamson's arrival in Dukedebut vs. Kentucky at the Champions Classic 2018 tournament.
And if there's one play that will stand out above the others, it's probably that alley-oop tomahawk dunk that forever turned the tide in BYU's favor as it pummeled and bullied Clemson in the second half.
Here in downtown Manhattan, Dibanza gave college basketball and BYU fans hope as he was everything he was promised to be. By the end of the game, he had a career-high 28 points, nine rebounds and six assists, with almost all of that statistical load coming in the second half.
This is the AJ Dybanza we were promised.
And he was released after Pumas coach Kevin Young was so angry he had little to say to Dybanza and his teammates in the dressing room at half-time.
Clemson outscored the Cougars in the first half, ending the final 6:43 on an astonishing 21-0 run and leading 43-22 at halftime. MSG had little energy—Florida and UConn fans hadn't yet started showing up for the nightcap—and BYU was strangely lethargic. When Young left the trainer's room and entered the spacious visitors' locker room, he was a man of few words. Irritated and tired of his team's last weak effort in the first half, he told them that it was up to the players to find a way to win.
“It didn’t really take long,” Dybanza told CBS Sports. “He was like, 'It's time for you to fix this.'
“I'm communicating clearly with our guys,” Young told CBS Sports. “Man, I thought they (the Tigers) played tougher. I really challenged them. There's no secret to winning. You have to play hard. You have to execute. I know that sounds very 'coachy', but they played harder than we did. And I thought we won the trench warfare in the second half.”
Young's players responded by holding Clemson to four points in the first 11 minutes, 50 seconds of the second half. As the defense tensed, Dybanza came to life. He's turned all that potential into something tangible, something so impressive that we're all allowed to believe that he and BYU have enough to put the Cougars into Final Four contender status. Most notably, it was his 22 points, seven rebounds and five assists after the break.
No BYU freshman has achieved those numbers in a complete game in the last 20 years. He beat Clemson himself, 22-21! He accounted for 34 of BYU's 45 points after halftime. Dybantsy's 28 points are the most by a freshman since T.J. Howes scored the same in 2017. Soon enough he'll hit 30, maybe 35, maybe even 40.
“I told AJ, ‘You need to put the two halves together. He can’t do it in the Big 12,” Dybanza’s father, Ace, told me after the game. “If he had played the same way in the first half as he did in the second, he would have had 40.”
There was a magnificent Jordan-style fadeaway from the right side about 15 feet downfield that coolly finished to make the score 47-42 Clemson with 9:55 left. There was an alley where Keba Keita that gave BYU a 55-54 lead with 3:18 remaining, one of five head-scratching physical moments from Keita that also helped chip away at Clemson's spirit.
With the best performance of his young career, Dybanca also gave BYU the greatest second-half comeback in school history. The Cougars never won a game after being down by as many as 22 points at halftime.
“I think his ability to process information is probably the most impressive quality about him,” Young told CBS Sports.
There's also a simple, level-setting approach that Young, who spent more than a decade coaching as an assistant in the NBA, conveys to Dybanza. Choose a location. Go where you want, do what you know you can. Against Clemson, Dibanza felt too comfortable living on the baseline in the first half. In the second half the situation changed. He became a different player.
“Like Kevin Durant, this is something Monty Williams and I could talk about,” Young said. “I think they used it with Tim Duncan: just pick a spot. This is what he and I talked about. Tonight I thought that's where he was at his best, just getting to his point, lifting, and then what I love about him is he's so versatile. You know, he's in the pick-and-roll. He throws punches at Keita. Two huge draws. And to do it on this stage and all the way for a young guy in this building, it’s pretty cool.”
I asked Dybanza and Wright what word they would use to describe what happened in the second half when they came back from the 22nd and did it for the first time playing on the world's most famous arena.
They used the same word at the same time.
“Surreal.”
Then they both smiled. It was a great evening for everyone involved in this program.
“We spend all day with each other, we spend a lot of time together, so everything he does, I see him do it a million times,” Wright said of Dybanets, “but I love seeing him do it at the highest level.”
This win for Clemson is the first major milestone in the beginning of a journey filled with promise and potential for greatness. BYU was hit with a corner kick a quarter into the season.
“This is crazy. Already?” Dybanza said when I mentioned the schedule.
Yes, already. It will go by so quickly.
A quarter of the way into the season and we were being treated not only to a larger than usual number of really good gamesbut a group of incredible talent. This includes perhaps the most in-depth freshman course available. Dibanza has always been mentioned at the top of this list and that is because of what he is capable of – what a packed house saw happen here towards the end of Tuesday night's game and what the nation saw on television.
BYA is good… but it can also be great. If he gets there, it will be thanks to Dybanza, whose first flash of greatness on the Garden stage serves as a beacon of legitimate hope for potentially the best season in program history.
