BYU Basketball’s Big-Money Experiment: Is the Investment Paying Off?
When it comes to BYU men’s basketball in 2025-26, there’s no denying one thing: the Cougars are flush with NIL cash. As one booster put it, “We’re swimming in money down here.”
The question isn’t whether the resources are there - they clearly are. The real question is: how should they be used?
This year’s roster was built with the kind of financial backing that turns heads across college basketball. The headline grabber?
AJ Dybantsa, the top prep recruit in the country, reportedly brought in over $5 million - with some whispers suggesting it could be closer to $7 million. Then came Rob Wright III, a highly touted guard who transferred from Baylor, reportedly for around $3 million.
Add in Kennard Davis from Southern Illinois, a handful of other transfers and recruits, and the cost of retaining returners like Richie Saunders and Keba Keita, and you’re looking at a roster that’s as expensive as any BYU’s ever fielded.
But here’s the twist: despite all that investment, there’s a growing case to be made that last year’s team - the 2024-25 squad - might’ve been better.
Let’s rewind for a second. That team, which included Saunders, Egor Demin, Keita, Trevin Knell, Dallin Hall, Fousseyni Traore, Trey Stewart, Mawot Mag, Dawson Baker, and Kanon Catchings, wasn’t cheap either, but it didn’t have a single player on Dybantsa’s financial level.
What it did have, especially down the stretch, was chemistry. That group played with cohesion, moved well off the ball, and found a rhythm that made them both effective and fun to watch.
Sure, they had their stumbles - a three-game skid in January against Houston, Texas Tech, and TCU, plus losses to Utah, Cincinnati, and Arizona. But then came a nine-game winning streak that included a road win over Arizona.
They finished 26-10, made a run to the Sweet 16, and played some of their best basketball in March. Wins over VCU and Wisconsin in the NCAA Tournament were textbook examples of balance and execution.
Even their season-ending loss to Alabama came against a team that simply caught fire.
Fast forward to this season. The Cougars are 17-5, and they’ve beaten some solid teams.
But over their last five games, they’ve lost more than they’ve won - dropping contests to Texas Tech, Arizona, Kansas, and Oklahoma State. In that loss to OSU, BYU looked flat and disjointed, a far cry from the well-oiled machine we saw last March.
Dybantsa has had flashes of brilliance, but he’s also struggled under the weight of constant double- and triple-teams. Sometimes he forces shots.
Other times he hesitates. And when he does find the open man, too often the shot doesn’t fall.
It’s not all on him - he’s a special talent - but he can’t do it alone.
The offense has leaned heavily into isolation play, with the ball sticking too often and not enough movement off it. Defensively, the effort has been inconsistent.
At times, it’s been downright invisible. And the bench?
It’s thin - painfully so. BYU is relying heavily on its big-money trio of Dybantsa, Saunders, and Wright, especially with injuries taking a toll on depth and firepower.
There’s also been a troubling trend of slow starts. The Cougars have fallen behind by significant margins in the first half of several games, only to claw their way back after halftime. That kind of desperation basketball might spark a comeback here and there, but it’s not a sustainable formula - especially not in the Big 12.
So here’s the big-picture question: Is it better to spread NIL money across a deeper, more balanced roster? Or to go all-in on a few stars and hope the rest of the team can hold the line?
In the NBA, the formula has long been to stack your roster with two or three All-Stars and build around them. That’s Kevin Young’s background.
But college basketball isn’t the NBA. Depth matters.
Chemistry matters. And in the college game, where players are younger and more prone to inconsistency, relying too heavily on a few individuals can be risky.
You also have to wonder what this experience feels like for a player like Dybantsa. He came to BYU with high expectations - and a high price tag.
But without enough help around him, he’s been forced into tough spots that don’t always showcase his best. Could that frustration start to show?
Could it affect future recruiting, as other elite prospects weigh what they’ve seen from BYU’s star-powered but uneven season?
And what about Young? If this high-upside, high-dollar experiment doesn’t yield the kind of results BYU is hoping for, will he consider a return to the NBA ranks?
There’s still time for this team to find its footing. Dybantsa, Saunders, Wright, Keita, and Davis have the talent.
But the schedule doesn’t get easier from here. The Cougars still have to face Houston at home, Arizona on the road, and a gauntlet of Big 12 opponents - including Iowa State, UCF, and Texas Tech - before the postseason.
The bottom line? BYU has the talent, the money, and the ambition. But whether this current formula - top-heavy, star-driven, and expensive - leads to sustained success is still very much up in the air.
And if you’re a BYU fan, you might be asking yourself: which team would you rather watch - last year’s cohesive, balanced group that made a deep tournament run, or this year’s star-studded squad still searching for its identity?
The answer might say more about the future of college basketball - and how programs like BYU use their NIL war chests - than we realize.