PROVO — After the inevitable expectations of the top-rated recruit and likely NBA draft lottery pick along with three seasons within a season, the magic of March shined on BYU men's basketball once again.
The sixth-seeded Cougars (23-11) will be dancing in back-to-back seasons under second-year head coach Kevin Young, and will open the 2026 NCAA men's basketball tournament Thursday against the 11th-seeded winner of a "First Four" game between Texas and North Carolina State.
Should BYU advance, they'd face the winner of No. 3 Gonzaga (30-3) and No. 14 Kennesaw State (21-13).
Led by the nation's leading scorer in AJ Dybantsa, the Cougars rebounded from a three-game losing skid that dropped them to the 10th in the Big 12 with three consecutive victories, including an 82-76 win over then-No. 10 Texas Tech in the regular-season finale.
Dybantsa averaged 31.0 points, 7.0 rebounds and 3.7 assists in three games while shooting 52.4% from the field to lead the Cougars to a pair of victories in the Big 12 tournament in Kansas City before a 73-66 quarterfinal loss to No. 5 Houston.
During the run, Dybantsa broke Kevin Durant's freshman Big 12 Tournament scoring record with 40 points in a first-round win over Kansas State, and totaled 93 points to break Durant's single-tournament record that has stood since 2007.
The Cougars won't be the only team dancing from the Beehive State after Utah State won three games in three days and swept Mountain West regular-season and tournament titles Saturday afternoon in Las Vegas.
There was no sweating for the Aggies (28-6) were dancing.
And where?
Ninth-seeded Utah State will face No. 8 Villanova in San Diego as part of Friday's West regional.
The Wildcats are back in the Big Dance under first-year Kevin Willard, who has now taken three programs to 8-9 games in the NCAA Tournament.
This story will be updated.
