LAS VEGAS — BYU men’s basketball opens the most anticipated season in program history against a Big East historic power, but it will be second-year coach Kevin Young’s squad that has the respect and spread of the oddsmakers in southern Nevada.
Former Villanova coach Jay Wright isn’t leaving his job on television any time soon, which is what makes the former six-time Big East champion Wildcats 7.5-point underdogs by many of the oddsmakers that call Sin City home.
Instead, it’s “little old BYU,” or whatever took its place in the 565 days since Young was named the 19th head coach in program history. In the dizzying year-plus, the Cougars went 26-10 with a top-four finish in the Big 12, advanced to the Sweet 16 for the first time since Jimmer Fredette was named Naismith Player of the Year, and signed the top recruit in program history in AJ Dybantsa.
And now, Young has BYU fans preparing for a sequel potentially even better than the original, with the highest preseason ranking in program history at No. 8 in the Associated Press Top 25.
Some even have sugar-plum dreams of a Final Four as much — or more — than any team that hasn’t been there since the NCAA Tournament expanded to 32 teams in 1975.
The Cougars returned two starters from last year’s Sweet 16 squad, including leading scorer Richie Saunders, and added a projected NBA draft lottery pick in Dybantsa and arguably the top point guard in the transfer portal in Baylor’s Rob Wright III.
It all starts Monday night at the T-Mobile Center (7:30 p.m. MST, TNT) in a high-profile game that Young hopes is the norm rather than an outlier for the program with which he signed a long-term extension following his initial success.
“It’s what it should be; it’s what I said we wanted to make this place when we got here,” Young told reporters prior to leaving for Las Vegas. “I’m grateful that people have decided to come here to help put us in that situation. But this isn’t like a feel-good moment because we have a ‘big game.’
“We want to play with the big boys. We want to be a contender in all things college basketball,” he added. “It’s not like a badge of honor because we’ve got a big game. That’s what we should want, I’m glad that we have it, and now it’s a matter of going out and producing.”
With the obvious caveat that games aren’t won on paper, Young has assembled a roster capable of playing — and contending — with anyone. He’s also done it in a new era of college basketball that doesn’t discount top high school prospects or “one-and-done” stars, but also leans on continuity as well as the NCAA transfer portal.
In addition to All-Big 12 selection Saunders and starting center Keba Keita, the Cougars also brought back Mihailo Boskovic, Khadim Mboup, Dawson Baker, Brody Kozlowski and Jared McGregor from last year’s team. Former Las Vegas prep standout Xavion Staton joins Dybantsa in a freshman class that also features Austrian sharpshooter Aleksej Kostic; and Young’s staff added a well-rounded group of transfers.
Headlined by Wright, a Big 12 all-freshman who averaged 11.5 points, 4.2 assists and 2.1 rebounds per game at Baylor, BYU also added former Idaho star Tyler Mrus, UC Riverside’s Nate Pickens, Washington’s Dominique Diomande, and Southern Illinois’ Kennard Davis Jr.
Davis, in particular, is one to keep an eye on, particularly after the 6-foot-6 junior from St. Louis started both of the Cougars’ exhibition games against Nebraska and No. 25 North Carolina. The son of former semi-pro basketball player Kennard Davis whom teammates call “Moo” averaged 10.3 points, 4.0 rebounds and 1.7 assists on 44.6% shooting for the Salukis.
“That was really his childhood name growing up,” Davis explained of the nickname. “It just got passed down; He’s Big Moo, I’m Little Moo around friends and family.”
BYU head coach Kevin Young calls out to his players during an NCAA men’s basketball exhibition game against North Carolina held at the Delta Center in Salt Lake City on Friday, Oct. 24, 2025. (Photo: Isaac Hale, Deseret News)
Name, image and likeness and the highest bidders are easy targets for attracting top talent in the current era of college basketball. But Davis pointed to Young’s NBA background where he was the highest-paid assistant in the league with the Phoenix Suns and on a short list of head coaching candidates each year in bringing the Missouri native to Utah.
“Being able to play at the highest level and against the best players, I felt like it was a great fit,” Davis said. “And academically, everything came together.”
He’ll get the chance with Dybantsa, the 6-foot-9 former No. 1 overall recruit by ESPN who picked BYU over Alabama, Kansas, North Carolina and virtually any other college for what many expect to be his lone season of college basketball.
“My ultimate goal is to go to the NBA,” he told Boardroom, noting Young’s Suns background as well as assistants Tim Fanning and Will Voigt, a strength and conditioning staff led by former Milwaukee Bucks strength coach Michael Davie, and former Suns dietitian Danielle LaFata.
“You can have a lot of college coaches that get guys to the NBA; there are a ton of them,” he added. “But I don’t know if they’ll have the ability to run an NBA-style (program) like how KY is doing it — because he came directly from the NBA.”
BYU men’s basketball 2025-26Key returnersG/F Richie SaundersC Keba KeitaF Mihailo BoskovicG Dawson BakerG Jared McGregorF Khadim MboupTop freshmenF AJ DybantsaC Xavion StatonG Aleksej KosticKey newcomersPG Rob Wright IIIG/F Tyler MrusG Nate PickensF Dominique DiomandeG Kennard Davis Jr. Key departuresG Egor Demin (NBA)G Trevin Knell (graduation)G/F Mawot Mag (graduation)F/C Fousseyni Traore (graduation)G Trey Stewart (graduation)F Kanon Catchings (transfer)G Dallin Hall (transfer)
The Key Takeaways for this article were generated with the assistance of large language models and reviewed by our editorial team. The article, itself, is solely human-written.