There was always a certain urgency for BYU’s basketball team this season — win big now or start over and hope that another once-in-a-lifetime player shows up conveniently at a tiny prep school in southern Utah and chooses BYU over Kentucky, Kansas, Duke, North Carolina and any of the other blue bloods.
Sure, that’ll happen again — well, probably not.
Urgency was always the unspoken part of the deal. AJ Dybantsa, who was considered the best high school player in more than two decades, will be one-and-done. He’s never stayed anywhere more than a year — three high schools in three years, from Massachusetts to California and finally Utah — and college will be no different. So, the pressure is to make the most of it NOW.
The Cougars seemed to be doing just that for a time, but what we were seeing was misleading. Reality set in last week when the unthinkable happened: Guard Richie Saunders went down with a torn ACL, ending his season and, with it, whatever dreamy hopes remained for his team.
Dybantsa is a great player — some believe he could be the No. 1 overall pick in the NBA draft — but he needed help, and he got it from Saunders and Rob Wright. Packaged with Dybantsa, they were the “Brig 3” and they accounted for 61 of the 85 points BYU scored on an average night — about 71%. They have been the highest scoring trio in the nation.
In the wake of Saunders’ injury, the headlines read like an obituary: How prepared is BYU for life without Richie Saunders? BYU readies for rematch with Arizona without Richie Saunders. Setting realistic expectations as BYU travels to Arizona. Cougars move on without Richie Saunders.
They played No. 4-ranked Arizona on the road Wednesday and it proceeded as expected. The Cougars were game, but lost 75-68. They lost to this same team in Provo three weeks ago by three points.
Saunders, who contributed nearly 19 points per game and has been described by his coach as the heart and soul of the team, has been a huge part of the Cougars’ success, but the truth is the team’s hopes were unraveling before the injury.
They were 16-1 in mid-January and ranked No. 9 in the national rankings, but then they began a dramatic tailspin — five losses in six games. The Arizona game makes it six losses in nine games. Their season record: 19-7.
The truth is, the Cougars were overrated. A No. 9 ranking? Really? The tailspin coincided with their entry into the thick of the Big 12 schedule, with games against No. 15 Texas Tech, No. 1 (at the time) Arizona, No. 14 Kansas, No. 8 Houston and the rematch against No. 4 Arizona. It was a big reality check. They are now 7-6 in the Big 12 standings.
The Big 12 Conference is as advertised — arguably the best in the nation. The Big 12 has put a team in the Final Four six times in nine years, resulting in two national champions and one runner-up. And it wasn’t merely a case of one dominant school representing the league repeatedly in the Final Four — it was five: Oklahoma, Kansas (twice), Texas Tech, Baylor and Houston.
Two days after falling to No. 4 Arizona, the Cougars will play No. 6 Iowa State Saturday and, early next month, No. 13 Texas Tech.
As Deseret News reporter Jackson Payne noted, BYU might have been in a better position to cover the loss of Saunders if season-ending injuries hadn’t claimed Dawson Baker, Nate Pickens and Brody Kozlowski.
The injuries were never part of the plan when the Cougars went all-in with Dybantsa in the building.
Dybantsa and Wright compensated for the loss of Saunders after he was injured during the opening seconds against Colorado last Saturday, combining for 59 points and 18 rebounds and 12 assists. That was enough to claim an overtime win, but is that sustainable? In Wednesday’s game against Arizona, Dybantsa and Wright combined for 48 points, and this time it wasn’t enough.
