AJ Dybantsa, Egor Demin and Kanon Catchings are going places, and when they do, it will be Justin Young’s job to find their replacements.
Young is in his first year as BYU’s director of recruiting for his younger brother, Kevin, who is the head coach.
Planning for the future is his business, and while Dybantsa doesn’t get to campus until next fall, and Demin and Catchings are struggling in their college debuts, the NBA is coming for them, and sooner rather than later.
“He’s just a dude. He’s just a dude,” Justin Young told the “Y’s Guys” podcast this week about Dybantsa, the nation’s top-rated player out of Utah Prep in Hurricane. “I’ve done this for 25 years, he’s up there. He is in that rare hall of guys that are an impact.”
BYU signee AJ Dybantsa
Dybantsa went on ESPN in December to announce his commitment to BYU — choosing the Cougars over Kansas, North Carolina and Alabama.
He is projected to be the overall pick in the 2026 NBA draft after one season at BYU. His alpha-dog antics on the court have the Cougars licking their chops.
“You look at (Duke freshman) Cooper Flagg and the way he started the season where there were some growing pains and then last week he goes off for 42 points,” Young said. “He’s in this zone where he knows, ‘I’m the guy, I’m out there, no one can stop me, no one can defend me, no one can get me off my game.’ I think AJ has that similar, if not better mindset. That dude is so competitive.”
Dybantsa is 6-foot-9 and can play any position, but he thrives with the ball in his hands.
“He wants to compete at such a higher level. I think for him, everything trickles down from that,” Young said. “If he sees the opportunity to go attack the rim and that’s the weakness, then it’s ‘I’m gonna go attack that. If I’m getting two or three guys being thrown at me, I’ve got shooters on my right and my left and I’ll get the ball to those guys.’ He has a very high IQ, and he is wired to score. We are really excited to get him to Provo and see what he can do for our program.”
Egor Demin at BYU
It’s been a tough month and a half for Demin. The 6-9 freshman from Moscow, Russia, banged up his knee on the first play of the game against Providence on Dec. 3 and has struggled to find his shot since.
However, a recent ESPN NBA mock draft lists him as the eighth overall pick to Sacramento, and Young expects him to go.
“If you have a chance to be a lottery pick, you rarely see those guys come back. We’ve had a lot of (NBA) general managers come through the annex and I’m seeing guys really doing their homework,” Young said. “I think once people get to see Egor, particularly on the practice side and really see that, I think that’s going to carry through. That message has been consistent (despite) the slump that he’s in right now.”
In the 13 games he’s played in so far this season, Demin has averaged 11 points, 4.2 rebounds and six assists.
Tuesday night against Oklahoma State, Demin awakened for 10 points in the second half in the Cougars’ 85-69 victory. He also grabbed five rebounds and dished out eight assists.
“That IQ is really different. That passing is very unique. He’s probably one of the three best passers I’ve ever seen,” said Young, who has spent most of his career evaluating talent for Rivals, Yahoo and his own company, Hoopseen.com. “He’s tremendous. I think that will carry him over.”
Kanon Catchings at BYU
Sixty players will be selected in June’s draft, and Young believes Catchings will also hear his name called.
The 6-9 freshman from Brownsburg, Indiana, hasn’t lit the world on fire at BYU, but the flashes he’s shown haven’t gone unnoticed.
“The thing with Kanon that we loved about him as a high school player is he has such a high ceiling,” Young said. “That length and shot making ability, when you look at guys who have been drafted in the past, they check a lot of those same characteristics that Kanon brings to the table.”
Catchings averages 9.3 points and 3.1 rebounds. Early foul trouble limited his minutes against the Cowboys on Tuesday, and he missed the only shot he took.
“What they look like right now at 18, they are not going to be the same player when they are 25. That’s what the NBA is looking at,” Young said. “They are looking at the trajectory of that 10-year plan or 15-year plan. I think that’s why you get really excited about their upside, for sure. I hope for both of those guys that they will hear their names on draft night. We knew that coming into it, that these are the types of players we want to recruit.”
BYU basketball moving forward
Replacing Demin, Catchings and eventually Dybantsa might seem ominous, but the fact that they chose BYU will make it easier for others like them to choose the Cougars, too.
In the wake of Dybantsa’s signing, 7-foot prep star Xavion Staten picked BYU over Michigan and his hometown UNLV.
“I think that has really opened a lot of eyes, not just regionally or within the area you typically see BYU recruits, but all over the world. That part has been pretty good,” Young said. “Now we just have to decide which of the best guys we want that can fit what we are trying to do.”
Dave McCann is a sportswriter and columnist for the Deseret News and is a play-by-play announcer and show host for BYUtv/ESPN+. He co-hosts “Y’s Guys” at ysguys.com and is the author of the children’s book “C is for Cougar,” available at deseretbook.com.
