As I noted on a recent episode of the Eye On College Basketball Podcast, the past 11 Naismith Award winners were on a team that finished in the top 10 at KenPom.com. Beyond that, it’s 18 of the past 20 with the only exceptions being Texas‘ Kevin Durant in 2007 and Creighton’s Doug McDermott in 2014.
Put another way, unless you’re on a top-10 team, you’d better be a top-seven scorer in NCAA history (McDermott) or somebody who was so awesome in one year of college that nobody is surprised he’s now a top-six scorer in NBA history (Durant). And, just so we’re clear, let the record show that we’ve reached the point where it’s hard to see anybody other than Duke’s Cameron Boozer winning the Naismith Award, the CBS Sports National POY Award or any other honor given to college basketball’s best player.
Boozer has been terrific for the top-ranked team.
He deserves all of the trophies.
But my larger point is that BYU’s AJ Dybantsa has also been so awesome — just like Durant and McDermott were so awesome — that he’s the kind of player who could reasonably win a Naismith Award without being on a top-10 team if this were a different season and Boozer and Duke did not exist.
Did you see what Dybantsa did Tuesday? The 6-foot-8 freshman took 21 shots, made 15 of them and finished with 40 points, nine rebounds and six assists in the Cougars’ 105-91 win over Kansas. State in the first round of the Big 12 Tournament in Kansas City. That effort broke Durant’s previous record for points scored by a freshman in a Big 12 Tournament game, the record he set when he got 37 against Kansas in an 88-84 OT loss in the 2007 title game.
“[Dybantsa] was scoring every way possible,” said BYU coach Kevin Young.
A candidate to be the No. 1 pick in the 2026 NBA Draft, Dybantsa is now averaging 25.2 points, 6.8 rebounds and 3.9 assists while shooting 52% from the field. If you’re curious, Durant averaged 25.8 points, 11.1 rebounds and 1.3 assists while shooting 47% from the field in his one season in the Big 12.
BYU is No. 26 in Wednesday morning’s updated CBS Sports Top 25 And 1 daily college basketball rankings, where Duke remains No. 1 for the 18th consecutive day. The Cougars’ next game will be against West Virginia in the second round of the Big 12 Tournament. Tip is set for Wednesday at 7 pm ET.
