"I hope BYU live up to the hype": fans react as AJ Dybantsa's BYU set to face Bryce James' Arizona, Darryn Peterson's Kansas in the upcoming season
With top-ranked recruit AJ Dybantsa arriving at Provo, BYU is coming into the 2025-26 season with a lot of hype. On Friday, the Big 12 revealed its home and away matchups, and it showed that Dybantsa and the Cougars will have plenty of challenging opponents.
Dybantsa will have another matchup with his rival, Darryn Peterson and Kentucky. Peterson, who was with Prolific Prep, defeated Dybantsa's Utah Prep multiple times during their senior season.
BYU is also slated to take on Arizona, which had one of the most packed recruitment classes last season with Bryce James, Koa Peat and Brayden Burries.
These matchups have gotten fans hyped, and they are excited to see the improved BYU Cougars in action. However, some fans are a bit weary of all the hype.
"I hope byu live up to the hype yall giving them cuz Rutgers sure didn’t," one fan said.
"Any BYU game this season is gonna be must-see TV," another fan added.
"sucks we don’t get kansas and byu twice this year," said another said.
Meanwhile, other fans were excited for other Big 12 teams in action, especially Houston and Texas fans.
"If the Big 12 was a movie, this season’s the craziest trailer of the year. Nothing but blockbusters coming," one person commented.
"No baylor and kansas on one of the slides when they the only two teams in the conference in to win a natty in the past 10+ years is crazy work," another commenter pointed out.
"Houston clears the whole conference as per usual, back to back conference champions, reigning tournament champions, and natty finalist and we’re coming back bettee," one fan said.
AJ Dybantsa trained with Golden State Warriors star in the buildup to BYU debut
AJ Dybantsa worked out with Golden State Warriors forward Jonathan Kuminga earlier this week.
Dybantsa did some drilling footwork and NBA-style shooting drills. Kuminga shared some photos from the training session on Instagram:
Despite coming into BYU with a lot of hype, Dybantsa is expected to be a one-and-done and leave for the NBA draft after his freshman year. He is also projected to be a No. 1 pick in 2026.