BYU HC Kevin Young believes AJ Dybantsa can be the BEST defensive player in the country

Summary

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Eye On College Basketball Podcast

Episode: BYU HC Kevin Young believes AJ Dybantsa can be the BEST defensive player in the country
Date: October 23, 2025
Hosts: Gary Parrish & Matt Norlander
Guest: BYU Head Coach Kevin Young

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Episode Overview

This episode features BYU head coach Kevin Young, who joins the hosts to discuss his transition from the NBA to college basketball, his approach to building his staff and team culture, and, most notably, his expectations for star freshman AJ Dybantsa. Young shares insights into AJ's maturity, his versatile projected role, and why he believes Dybantsa has the potential to be college basketball's best defender. The conversation further dives into coaching philosophies, the unique challenges of the college game, and Young’s unexpected affection for the BYU community.

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Key Discussion Points & Insights

1. Coach Young’s Off-Court Interests and Personality

• Young’s travel experience and music tastes set a relaxed, relatable tone.
• Shares recent listens: “I went old school Charlie Tuna fish from Jurassic 5. … Alt country is, like, hot for me right now, so, like, Tyler Childers vibes, I’m going strong with that, too.” (Kevin Young, 02:27–02:37)
• Young controls music during specific shoot-around drills, notably playing “Sure Shot” by Beastie Boys as a tradition (03:13–03:27).

2. AJ Dybantsa: On and Off the Court

• Adjustment & Maturity:
  • “He’s been amazing, truly. … What separates him is … this maturity for a young guy and this professionalism, that’s extremely impressive. … He’s as dialed of a guy that I’ve coached at any age.” (Kevin Young, 04:44–05:21)
• How NBA Experience Shapes Approach:
  • Young’s NBA background was a “potentially sole reason” Dybantsa chose BYU, fostering a relationship “founded on trust and truth telling.” (06:08–06:24)
  • “He lets me coach him hard. … I think at this point he expects me to hold him accountable, not just in our own one-on-one discussion but in front of the team.” (06:32–06:44)

3. Expectations & Role for AJ Dybantsa

• Defensive Focus:
  • “The two things that I’ve been on him about the most are playing defense—because I think he’s got the ability to be legitimately the best defender in college basketball.” (07:58–08:14)
  • Attributes cited: athleticism, length, desire, competitiveness.
• Playmaking & Scoring:
  • Young values giving the ball to his most talented players: “I’m a big believer in putting the ball in your most talented player's hands … I just want guys to make the right play.” (08:40–08:54)
  • “He can make threes. He can get to the rim at will. … He really is a true three-level scorer.” (09:13–09:19)
• Projected Usage:
  • “We’ll definitely ask him to score a lot of points, but those two things that I started with are what I’m really on him about mostly.” (09:33–09:37)

4. Team Construction: Fitting the Pieces

• Richie’s Fit:
  • “NBA people like him because he’s a guy you can plug in the game and … He can coexist with great players because he’s not a guy that needs to dribble the ball a million times.” (09:42–10:03)
• Balance and Efficient Offense:
  • Emphasizing a perfect fit for playmakers and shooters; maintaining team balance with AJ’s arrival.

5. Reflections on the Alabama Game and NCAA Tournament

• On Facing Hot Shooting Teams:
  • “Sometimes it goes that way … you could have had 10 guys out there guarding, it wouldn’t have mattered.” (11:01–11:20)
• Learning from Losses:
  • “There’s always something you can do. … If we had to do it all over again … maybe we don’t test [their three-point shooting] as much.” (11:01–11:33)

6. Coaching Philosophy: Lessons from Football

• Staff Organization:
  • Young structures his staff with NFL-style coordinator roles: “A lot of the staffs I was on [in the NBA] were designed that way … I’ve pretty much designed my staff that way as well.” (11:59–12:25)
• Game Management:
  • Impressed by football coaches’ situational mastery: “Situationally, I think football coaches are well, well past where basketball coaches are.” (12:43–12:54)

7. Year One—College vs. NBA: Key Lessons

• Daily Grind Difference:
  • “It really became a battle of how can we optimize every day? … Finding that balance. I think when we hit our stride in the season was when we started to figure out how we were going to construct every day to optimize it.” (13:12–13:44)

8. Differences Coaching in College

• Intensity and Atmosphere:
  • “There’s no nights off … All the atmospheres are pretty intense. … That’s the thing I love about college basketball versus the NBA. … Every night feels like a tournament game.” (13:53–14:17)

9. Personal Fulfillment and Future at BYU

• BYU Fit:
  • “Now that we’re here, we like it, I’d say, even more than we thought we would. … It’s a good time to be involved with the university. We love it. My wife loves it, and we’re just really happy that we’re here.” (15:03–15:37)

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Notable Quotes and Moments

• On AJ Dybantsa’s Defensive Potential:
  • “I think he’s got the ability to be legitimately the best defender in college basketball.”
    (Kevin Young, 08:08)
• On the Role of Trust in Coaching:
  • “The commonality is trust and truth telling. And so that’s kind of what our relationship’s founded on.”
    (Kevin Young, 06:18)
• On Adapting to the College Grinds:
  • “You’re just grinding these guys with so much practice time versus what you’re doing in the NBA world.”
    (Kevin Young, 13:15)
• Why He Chose BYU:
  • “I know he’s talked about that in other outlets and so forth, but yeah… potentially sole reason why he came to BYU.”
    (Kevin Young, 06:10–06:14)

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Key Timestamps

• Music Taste, Personality – 02:27–03:30
• On AJ’s Adjustment & Maturity – 04:44–05:33
• NBA Experience Impact on Player Relationships – 06:08–06:54
• AJ’s Role & Expectations – 07:58–09:37
• Richie’s Fit with the Team – 09:38–10:12
• Alabama Game & Learning from Losses – 10:12–11:42
• Football Coaching Lessons – 11:42–13:02
• Year One Adjustments (NBA vs. College) – 13:12–13:50
• Atmosphere of College Basketball – 13:53–14:28
• Coach Young’s Satisfaction at BYU – 15:03–15:44

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Conclusion

Kevin Young’s conversation offers an honest and enthusiastic look at BYU basketball’s present and future. His belief in AJ Dybantsa’s talent—particularly on defense—sets the stage for high expectations. Young’s NBA pedigree influences his staff structure, player relationships, and program culture. His passion for the college environment and his intentional approach to developing talent and culture make this episode compelling for fans eager to see how BYU and its star freshman will fare this season.

Transcript

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[Podcast Host (Kevin)]

Kevin Young, BYU coach, joining us on Ion college basketball. We could start with the hoops, but I gotta. I gotta be honest. He's given me some incredible restaurant recommendations over. Over the years. Do you have any for Kansas City? I got a night here. Anything here or are you not prepared?

[Kevin Young (BYU Coach)]

I mean, this one's not gonna be off the beaten path, but can you go wrong with Jack Sacks?

[Podcast Host (Kevin)]

I listen. And anyone from this area, I. This is only me reporting what's been shared as well. Apparently it's solid, but not as strong as it may have once been. So.

[Kevin Young (BYU Coach)]

Wolf pack.

[Podcast Host (Kevin)]

Okay.

[Kevin Young (BYU Coach)]

Go Wolf pack. Barbecue.

[Commercial Announcer / Promo Voice]

Okay. Okay.

[Podcast Host (Kevin)]

He's locked and loaded. Obviously with his NBA background, seen many a city and traveled many a place. Before we dive into your team, I'm curious, like, you know, you're a little bit of a music guy. What like what two or three songs are you listening to as of late here? What's on the rotation, man?

[Kevin Young (BYU Coach)]

Let's see what I listened to on the way over here this. This morning. It was. I went old school Charlie Tuna fish from Jurassic 5. Okay. Look at you.

[Podcast Host (Kevin)]

I like that.

[Kevin Young (BYU Coach)]

Okay. Yeah, I went deep in the archives. You know, alt country is, like, hot for me right now, so, like, Tyler Childress vibes, I'm going strong with that, too.

[Podcast Host (Kevin)]

Are you familiar with Hardy?

[Kevin Young (BYU Coach)]

Yeah, yeah.

[Podcast Host (Kevin)]

Okay.

[Kevin Young (BYU Coach)]

No.

[Podcast Host (Kevin)]

Some of the fellows that Hardy saw him over the summer.

[Kevin Young (BYU Coach)]

Okay. Yeah.

[Podcast Host (Kevin)]

He's a big Mississippi State guy, by the way.

[Kevin Young (BYU Coach)]

Okay.

[Podcast Host (Kevin)]

He's from that area.

[Kevin Young (BYU Coach)]

Won't hold that against him.

[Podcast Host (Kevin)]

I know, I know. No, I absolutely hear you. If I parachute in on a practice or pre, like, are you controlling the music at any point? Some coaches are like, hey, listen, you guys were awful yesterday. Music's all mine for the rest of the week. How do you.

[Kevin Young (BYU Coach)]

How do you handle it? So the only music that I control is a shoot around. We play sure Shot by Beastie Boys every shoot around because we have a drill that's called shell shots. Sounds like short shots. So that really, that's.

[Podcast Host (Kevin)]

You can't and you won't.

[Kevin Young (BYU Coach)]

Yeah, won't stop.

[Podcast Host (Kevin)]

There we go. Have you linked up with Tommy Lloyd on all the Beastie Boy stuff yet?

[Kevin Young (BYU Coach)]

I have not.

[Podcast Host (Kevin)]

Are you kidding me? Okay, so GP Handled the Tommy Lloyd interview, and I don't know if they got to this on the. On the show because I was. I wasn't in the room when we were doing it. Tommy Lloyd is legitimately a Beastie Boys fanatic, and he's got some incredible stories. I won't spoil them on the show, but literally all of an hour ago, me, GP And Tommy were talking about some amazing stuff. So if, speaking of the Beasties, you and Tommy need to link up and make that happen.

[Kevin Young (BYU Coach)]

I say we just. When we go play each other, maybe that has to be the pre. Only that for pregame music.

[Podcast Host (Kevin)]

I think that that absolutely has to happen. All right, let's dive into your team. We will lead on AJ and chefs for our producer, Nada. I don't know if he's going to drop the AJ interview for first or this one there. What has. And I know you've been asked this question, but I got to ask it. What has it been like to have him in your program on campus? And it's been a minute here, like, just have him around. And from the outside looking in, Kevin, I think a lot of people would say, okay, this big time prospect from the other side of the country, he's going to State of Utah play at byu. Maybe it's something of a, of a, of a renegade one and done kind of thing, but that's not really what it is. He is as invested in, bought in as anyone could imagine. Right?

[Kevin Young (BYU Coach)]

Yeah, I mean, he's been tremendous. You know, he's been on campus since late April, obviously been in the state for a while. I think he feels pretty comfortable out there along with his family. So, I mean, he's been amazing, truly. Like, he's been a real joy to coach. Obviously you see the athletic, the athletic prowess, the size, the, the skill, which, all that, you don't have that, you know, it's hard to, you know, hard to be what he is. But I think what separates him is he has that, but then he has this, this maturity for a young guy and this, this professionalism, that's extremely impressive. And so he's, he's as dialed of a guy that I've coached at any age. And then you, you factor in like the size, the athleticism that I started with. I mean, it's, it's made for, you know, a fun, fun few months.

[Podcast Host (Kevin)]

We haven't gotten to the start of the games and man, am I ready to get for the start of the games. But I do wonder if when we get there and you have some big wins, maybe there's some, you know, tough losses. We'll see what happens. But do you genuinely believe, not just like an easy talking point, your experience in the NBA, your connections with some of the best of the best when it just comes to, you know, the day to day, hour to hour of just how you connect with players, particularly with him, because, you know, he's poised to be arguably the number one pick in next year's draft? Do you think that has a real advantage in terms of how you run the program, how you coach him, relate to him and make this process this season go as well as it possibly could?

[Kevin Young (BYU Coach)]

Yeah, I think it does. I mean, it's, I think it's arguably the reason, the potentially sole reason why he came to BYU in the first place. And you know, I know he's talked about that in other outlets and so forth, but yeah, I mean, you know, and that for me stems from just experience of dealing with guys of kind of his caliber. I'll be at the next level and the commonality is, is trust and truth telling. Right. And so that's kind of what our relationship's founded on, you know. And the thing I love about him is he accepts it. He lets me coach him hard. I think at this point he expects me to hold him accountable, not just in our own one on one discussion, but in front of the team as well. And you know, when you can do that with one of your best players, I think it really sets the stage for what, what you want your team to be about.

[Podcast Host (Kevin)]

One more question on AJ and then we'll get to the rest of your team and some of your schedule stuff. There are three especially high profile freshers. It's actually an amazing freshman class coming in. We could see seven, eight or nine of these guys just be awesome. But the three headliners are obviously Cam Boozer at Duke, Darren Peterson in the league, and then AJ Boozer as winning of a player at the high school level. As we've seen in a generation, we can see what his role is going to be and should be a guy that's going to almost probably by necessity. Sorry, John. 20 and 10 a game, we could see that Darren Peterson, the ball's going to be in his hands at all times. It's hard to see how he wouldn't be maybe arguably the most highest usage freshman in the country. But you've got a lot of talent. You're one of the most efficient offensive teams in the country. Some folks that have not really seen a ton of AJ Might think that, okay, here's a guy that's going to come in and all I've seen on social media and heard like he's going to average 25 a night. What are you actually expecting from him? From a productive standpoint, from a role standpoint, when you look at what you've got with Richie and Robin and elsewhere, what really, how do you think his role is going to play out and is he going to be someone that plays primarily off the ball or will you put the ball in his hands more often? Not and kind of allow him to create?

[Kevin Young (BYU Coach)]

Yeah, so he's going to have a everything. Honestly, I mean, we're going to ask him to do a lot. I think really the two things that I've been on him about the most are playing defense because I think he's got the ability to be legitimately the best defender in college basketball. I mean he possesses the athleticism, the length, the desire, the competitiveness. So that's the main thing I've been talking to him about. And then his playmaking just he. The ball will be in his hands a lot. It'll be in Rob's hands a lot too. But I think we'll sub it appropriately so it gives everybody a chance to kind of breathe. And so outside the defense, I've Been on his ability to make the right play. And I think that was something him and I talked about a lot prior to him coming. When you looked at, you know, he was. He came to several of our games. He saw how he used Jaeger, who's obviously with the Nets now, and there was, you know, similar in size, different type of players, but, you know, you put the ball, and I'm a big believer in putting the ball in your most talented players hands or I'm not a big position guy and I just want guys to make the right play. And if he's so dynamic and he puts such pressure on the defense, on the rim, that he's going to see every coverage known to man, he's going to see multiple defenders. And I'm on him constantly about just making the right play. And so that's that side of it now in terms of his skill set and everything. I mean, he's going to be able to just make plays and score on top of all that stuff, right? Like, he can. He can make threes. He can. He can get to the rim at will. We're starting to post him up more and more. So he really is a true, you know, this term gets turned around three level scorer, but he is at. We'll definitely ask him to score a lot of points, but those two things that I started with are what I'm really on him about mostly.

[Podcast Host (Kevin)]

Okay, how does Richie's role change or not with AJ and others being in the fold?

[Kevin Young (BYU Coach)]

Yeah, I don't think it changed at all. I think that's the beauty of Richie. You know, I've talked to NBA teams about that. You know, NBA people like him because he's a guy you can plug in the game and he's gonna. He can coexist with great players because he's not a guy that needs to dribble the ball a million times. He's gonna catch and shoot it and catch it and drive it. So for me, it's a perfect balance and a perfect fit. And again, that's. That's what makes Richie good. And so I do think it's an environment that allows for playmakers like Rob and AJ to have the ball and allows Richie to do his thing as well.

[Podcast Host (Kevin)]

Okay, when I. When I say Alabama, what comes to your mind?

[Kevin Young (BYU Coach)]

I don't know what you're talking about. No, we. No, what comes to mind is, you know, Nate did a great job, had his team ready to play, and they played a really good game, made every shot, and sometimes it goes that way.

[Podcast Host (Kevin)]

Yeah, I mean, I was there. It was insane, frankly. No matter what you do in game plan, like just some nights, like just teams are going to be torching hot. I don't know if you found yourself talking to anyone at the NBA level or anyone else after that. Like, because what they did was legitimately record breaking. Like at a certain point you just say, this is year one, man. It felt great to get that taste, to go that deep in the tournament, but there was nothing we could do. Like it. Was it a little bit easier to accept the loss given the aberrational nature of how it happened?

[Kevin Young (BYU Coach)]

I mean, there's always something you can do. I mean, I think if we had to do it all over again, I mean, you know, look, we're, we try to be as prepared as any team in the league with, with film, with analytics and, and you know, we were, we were essentially going to test their ability to hit threes with us going under screens, particularly Spears, which he did. And we, you know, if we had to do it all over again, maybe we don't, we don't test that as much obviously, but they got comfortable then after that, I mean you could have been, and you know, you could have had 10 guys out there guarding, it wouldn't have mattered. But so like I said, some game goes like that, I don't think it, for me, it didn't distract from what we were able to kind of build in year one. And like I said, Nate's a really good coach. He runs a great program and they, they were the better team that night.

[Podcast Host (Kevin)]

I know you've got a pretty well rounded sports mind as well. I know you're into football like that a lot. Is there anything from a coaching perspective, maybe even like just a team assembly or just the execution? Is there, are there things that you've picked up on in being around football, people going to football games that you actually implement with your basketball program?

[Kevin Young (BYU Coach)]

Yeah, I think I'm really fascinated with just how football staffs operate. Okay, this, the coordinator concept. And so I was sort of brought up that way in the NBA. We had a lot kind of. It's not as, it's not as like you don't hear about it as much in basketball. This guy's the offensive coordinator, that guy's a defensive coordinator like you do in football. But a lot of the staffs I was on were designed that way. And so I've pretty much designed my staff that way as well. And so a lot of meetings and so forth, or could be offense or defensive kind of Centric based on what groupings I have with the coaches and stuff. So that's probably the biggest thing I think situationally, I think football coaches are well, well past where basketball coaches are. I mean, I love when you're watching an NFL team walk down a two minute drill at the end, right? And when they bring the clock down to 10 seconds and the special team unit runs on a boot, boot to field goal, the win as the clock expires. I mean the amount of execution and the amount of coaching that goes into that well before that moment is extremely impressive.

[Podcast Host (Kevin)]

That's, that's interesting stuff. I, I, I dig that a ton. Biggest lesson you learned from year one at the college level would be what.

[Kevin Young (BYU Coach)]

It'S, I mean, I don't know if I could narrow it down to just one thing. I think that the biggest difference is just the day to day, right? Like you just, it's, it's, you're just grinding these guys with so much practice time versus what you're doing in the NBA world. And so it really became a battle of how can we optimize every day? Are we doing the right things? Are we doing enough? We doing too much? Right. Finding that balance. I think when we hit our stride in the seasons, when we started to figure out how we were going to construct every day to optimize it such that our players were getting the most out of those days. And that took us a while and once we did that is when we really started to kind of roll.

[Podcast Host (Kevin)]

What's it like to coach in this league?

[Kevin Young (BYU Coach)]

It's really hard, man. Like there's a lot of number one, there's a lot of great coaches. Obviously there's a number of hall of fame coaches in this league and it's a deep league, it's a physical league. There's no nights off, all the atmospheres are pretty intense. And so that's the thing I actually love about college basketball versus the NBA is you're not getting a boring Tuesday night in a random city that no one cares about. Every night feels like a tournament game, right? It feels like a playoff game. And as a competitor, that makes it really fun.

[Podcast Host (Kevin)]

Well, you, you know, obviously built up a really good reputation over a long time. In the NBA you opt to make the leap for a number of reasons. And do you find yourself maybe even more satisfied with because you didn't know it until you lived it and now you're a little more than a year into it after being in the NBA for so long? I just kind of curious with where you land on just the fact that this is your life and, you know, you're someone who. It would be no surprise to me if we looked ahead and flash forward 10 years and you're an NBA head coach. But maybe this is the kind of thing where it was, it is a calling and maybe this, this can be you for the long term.

[Kevin Young (BYU Coach)]

Yeah, I mean, I've been fortunate, right, in terms of my path, met a lot of great people on both sides of the game. And, you know, I think me and my wife felt real strongly about this being a really good situation for our family. And now that we're here, we like it, I'd say, even more than we thought we would. Just in terms of the community, the university, the support, the administration has been amazing. I think just if you just kind of look at college sports landscape in general, you hear BYU a lot. Football, basketball. Right. Like, go on and on. And so I feel like it's a good time to be involved with, with the university. We love it. My wife loves it, and we're just really happy that we're here.

[Podcast Host (Kevin)]

Well, it should be a fascinating season. I'm hoping, looking forward to getting out to, to byu. You may not be aware of this, but there are BYU threads that are connected on this podcast and referenced on every episode. I honestly. Are you aware of, of, of the BYU connection on the show or not?

[Kevin Young (BYU Coach)]

I'm not.

[Podcast Host (Kevin)]

Okay, you know what? We're going to leave it there. We don't have to necessarily worry about that end of it. But it's a good thing, I promise. And shouts to Brandon Davies, as always, thank you so much for joining and can't wait to watch you this season.

[Kevin Young (BYU Coach)]

Kev, thank you. Appreciate it.

[Podcast Host (Kevin)]

You can be.

[Commercial Announcer / Promo Voice]

Anything.

[Podcast Host (Kevin)]

Me.

[Kevin Young (BYU Coach)]

Paramount Podcasts.

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