KANSAS CITY — Much to the chagrin of BYU basketball fans throughout the country, freshman star AJ Dybantsa did not earn Big 12 Player of the Year honors when the league announced its annual awards Monday afternoon.
The league’s 16 coaches vote on the postseason honors, and the designation went to Arizona’s Jaden Bradley, a senior who guided the Wildcats to the Big 12 regular-season championship. Dybantsa was named Big 12 Freshman of the Year and made the All-Big 12 First Team.
Ironically, on Tuesday morning when Big 12 commissioner Brett Yormark opened the conference tournament with some remarks at a news conference before the Arizona State-Baylor game, he said the 6-foot-9 Dybantsa, who leads the country in scoring, should be talked about for National Player of the Year honors.
The commissioner didn’t say anything about Bradley, who averaged 13.4 points, 3.3 rebounds and 4.6 assists in league play.
“I want to talk a little bit about national player of the year pushes. As we think about the postseason, I want to start off by recognizing players that I feel have earned the right to be considered national players of the year,” Yormark said. “I want to start off with BYU’s AJ Dybantsa. He’s had an outstanding year, and should absolutely be part of those conversations. He currently leads the nation in scoring and is on track to be the first underclassmen to lead the nation in scoring since 2021. He’s had a fabulous season.”
Dybantsa went into BYU’s first-round game against Kansas State on Tuesday night averaging 24.7 points, 6.7 rebounds and 3.8 assists per game. The Cougars went 9-9 to finish tied for seventh in the Big 12, and 21-10 overall.
Yormark also said that TCU’s Olivia Miles and Iowa State’s Audi Crooks should be in consideration for Women’s National Player of the Year honors.
The commissioner also said the Big 12 should get eight or nine men’s teams in the NCAA Tournament, and seven to eight women’s teams in the Big Dance, including Utah and BYU, who are probably on the wrong side of the bubble at the current time.
“I believe if you’re playing .500 basketball in conference play, you’ve proven you’re good enough to compete for a national title. That is not the case with other conferences,” Yormark said. “Four of the last six national championship games in men’s basketball have featured the Big 12 regular-season champion, or co-champion. … On the women’s side, Iowa State, Colorado, Utah, Arizona State, BYU and Kansas all have the résumés to get into the field, without a doubt.”
More highlights from the news conference:
• Yormark was invited to, and attended, President Donald Trump’s “Saving College Sports” roundtable last week and called the discussions “very productive” and encouraging. “For me, rules and enforcement are my top priority,” Yormark said. “I just got off a call with the four (power conference) commissioners. We speak weekly on all the issues that we’re facing at a national level, and I reiterate to them every time I can that rules and enforcement are critical for us.”
Yormark said there is “real momentum” to pass the Score Act, which is the Student Compensation and Opportunity through Rights and Endorsements (SCORE) Act. The proposed federal bill aims at regulating collegiate NIL deals to establish a national standard and protect the authority of conferences and the NCAA. Chiefly it declares that student-athletes are not employees, caps agent fees and provides antitrust exemptions for the NCAA.
“I think the Score Act is the best path forward,” Yormark said. “It provides us with the meaningful guiding principles when you think about federal legislation.”
• Last August, the Big 12 announced that it would release player availability reports for football and men’s and women’s basketball before all conference games. Football players are designated as available, probable, questionable or doubtful three days before each conference game.
Basketball teams submitted reports the night before conference games, listing players as either available or game-time decisions, or completely out.
“I think it’s gone relatively well,” Yormark said. “If it doesn’t hit my desk, then it’s gone pretty well. And nothing with availability reporting has hit my desk, although it’s a work in progress.”
• If you thought there were a high number of meaningful Big 12 men’s basketball games in the last few weeks of the regular season, you were right. Yormark acknowledged that was by design. He also said it will pay off in the next few weeks as the NCAA Tournament begins.
“Everyone does that. The fact is, we have a destinational product, and it’s all about appointment viewing,” Yormark said. “When we have those kind of matchups — ranked versus ranked — and big windows, people watch those games.
“Our schools have invested in their basketball product. It shows. We’re competing at the highest levels. My expectation based on our success this season is that we’ll have at least one (team) in the Final Four. I want to win a national championship this year, but it starts with the regular season. And like I said, we’ve had great performances. Fans are gravitating to our product. But for me, it’s about winning national championships, and my expectation is we will do that this year.”
