The BYU men’s basketball team is not even a third of the way into its 2024-25 season, but many fans are already looking forward to what the squad will look like next season with last week’s addition of AJ Dybantsa, the top prospect in the entire country in the Class of 2025.
A whole lot can change between now and next fall when Dybantsa makes his BYU debut, but here’s an early analysis of what the roster could look like, broken down by position.
First, a look at the players on this season’s roster who will at least likely not be on the roster next season:
- Egor Demin — Almost certainly headed to the NBA.
- Fousseyni Traore — A senior this season.
- Trevin Knell — A senior this season.
- Kanon Catchings — At this point there seems to be a chance he’ll return next season, though he’s still considered a potential first-round pick in the 2025 NBA Draft.
- Mawot Mag — A senior this season.
- Trey Stewart — A senior this season.
Now to the players who will likely be on the roster next season.
Guards
Dallin Hall
A starter alongside freshman phenom Egor Demin now that he’s healthy (though Demin is now hurt), Hall is an excellent floor general. He flirted with the transfer portal in the spring but returned. If he returns to BYU next season (he will be a senior), it stands to reason he will have more ballhandling duties than he does this season, assuming Demin leaves for the NBA.
Dawson Baker
A transfer last season from UC Irvine, Baker has started to come into his own this season after missing all but four games of the 2023-24 campaign because of injury.
Through 10 games this season, Baker is averaging 9.3 points in 19.4 minutes per contest. He’ll be a senior next season, and though changes can happen and rotations can be toyed with, right now it appears he’d be the only rotation level true shooting guard on the roster.
Elijah Crawford
A top 150 prospect in the country coming out of high school, Crawford was committed to the Stanford Cardinal before following former Cardinal assistant coach Brandon Dunson to BYU.
He’s only averaging about 8 minutes per game so far this season as a freshman, but the opportunity should be there for that number to go up next season, again assuming Demin departs.
Jared McGregor
A walk-on, McGregor hasn’t played much this season but is still just a junior.
Wings
AJ Dybantsa
It probably doesn’t need to be said, but the 6-foot-9, 210-pound Dybantsa will be given every opportunity to star for the Cougars next season, after which he’ll almost surely depart and potentially be the No. 1 pick in the 2026 NBA Draft.
Richie Saunders
Saunders is in many ways the heart and soul of the Cougars’ roster this season in terms of the toughness in which he plays. A senior next season, Saunders is a versatile player who should get plenty of minutes playing wherever head coach Kevin Young needs him most, assuming he returns (like Hall, he explored the transfer portal in the spring).
Khadim Mboup
A native of Africa, Mboup was originally part of the Class of 2025, but he reclassified and was set to be a freshman at BYU this season but has had some trouble with the admissions process, Vanquish the Foe’s Robby McCombs has reported.
Assuming the admissions process gets sorted out, Mboup might be buried on the depth chart some next season but he has the tools to potentially make an impact down the road.
Townsend Tripple
Another walk-on, Tripple hasn’t played much this season but is still just a sophomore.
Max Triplett
Another walk-on, Triplett also hasn’t played much this season but is still just a junior.
Bigs
Keba Keita
A junior transfer from Utah this season, Keita has started to unlock more of the immense potential he showed in two seasons with the Runnin’ Utes, and there’s no reason to believe he won’t have a fantastic campaign next year.
Mihailo Boskovic
A later add to BYU’s roster for this season, Boskovic has been a very solid reserve so far. Assuming he stays next season there will be competition for a starting spot, but he should be in that mix.
Brody Kozlowski
A graduate of Corner Canyon High in Utah, Kozlowski originally was going to go to USC but flipped to BYU after a coaching change. He’s barely played this season and will have a lot of competition for playing time next season, but assuming at this point that he sticks around, he’s still a talented player.
Xavion Staton
One of the best center prospects in the country in the Class of 2025, the Las Vegas native will join Dybantsa as a freshman next season. Staton is arguably the best interior defender in his class and should share minutes with Keita at the 5 spot next season.
Potential starting lineup/rotation/additional needs
Again, it’s extremely early in looking toward next season, but here’s what next season’s rotation could look like at this point:
Starters
- Dallin Hall
- Dawson Baker
- Richie Saunders
- AJ Dybantsa
- Keba Keita
Reserves
- Mihailo Boskovic
- Elijah Crawford
- Xavion Staton
- Khadim Mboup
- Brody Kozlowski
- Jared McGregor
- Townsend Tripple
- Max Triplett
By this projection, BYU will still have somewhere in the ballpark of three scholarships available to use, theoretically to continue building a roster around Dybantsa.
Those scholarships could be filled in a variety of ways, from awarding walk-ons, adding high school and/or international players and going into the transfer portal next spring.
Church mission notes
There are two players who have previously signed with the Cougars who are not slated to join the team until after 2025 because of church missionary service.
2024 signee Brooks Bahr, a guard out of Texas, is currently serving in the Alpine-German Mission and slated to join the team in 2026. Meanwhile, Utah big man Chamberlain Burgess (the nephew of assistant coach Chris Burgess) just signed with the Cougars a few weeks ago.
He is planning on leaving after high school and is planning on joining the team in 2027.