Kevin Young is running his players through an NBA-style combine in Provo. Here’s why (2024)

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Cougar basketball coach Kevin Young’s staff is engaged in summer workouts and skill development with roster players and part of that is conducting an NBA-style combine.

A combine is an event both the NFL and NBA stage to measure athletic ability and skills of players. Young is touting to recruits that his staff is capable and designed to help develop NBA skills and take high school and college players to the next level. In a recent combine skillset test, guard Trey Stewart was timed at 9.8 seconds in the Pro 4-Way Agility test. That time would be the all-time record in an actual NBA combine.

Cougar Insider’s predictions

Question of the Week: It is very early in the process, but does Kevin Young’s staff have a legitimate chance at signing AJ Dybantsa, the No. 1-ranked high school player in the country?

Jay Drew: A lot can change between now and the basketball early signing period in November, but right now it appears that new BYU basketball coach Kevin Young has as good a chance as anybody of signing Dybantsa. In fact, a couple of national recruiting experts are saying that BYU is the frontrunner right now for the No. 1-ranked recruit’s services.

I do know that Dybantsa has made more than one visit to Provo, and he’s had nothing but positive things to say about the place. Sounds like his parents have also visited BYU and enjoyed themselves at the foot of the Wasatch Mountains.

Of course, it will probably end up coming down to NIL, as a lot of recruiting battles do these days. Is BYU willing to pay the price? Time will tell.

Dick Harmon: Three months ago, BYU would have had no chance at attracting Dybantsa’s interest, but the program under Kevin Young has fundamentally changed. Young is using reinvigorated NIL collectives to competitively approach the nation’s top talent including Dybantsa. He has also assembled a staff that can credibly talk about preparing recruits for the NBA because they’ve been there conducting combine training and preparation of NBA talent.

BYU’s approach with Dybantsa and his parents has to present a safe, family-oriented atmosphere where he can concentrate on academics and basketball with fewer distractions than other big party campuses. The atmosphere of training and developing talent Young has created is appealing to Dybantsa, say experts, because while he is a prolific scorer, he needs work on his defense and passing. If Young can convince him that his staff is the best to deliver those to his game, they’ll stay in the game for his services. Click on this link to a CBS Sports podcast with Gary Parrish, Matt Norlander and Adam Finkelstein, national voices who believe BYU is one of the leaders for Dybantsa. Move the listening bar to the 50-minute mark to focus on this statement.

Cougar tales

Cole Ponich rocketed to a quick match play lead over BYU teammate Cooper Jones and held on to win the Utah State Amateur championship at Ogden Country Club this past weekend. It is the longest-running golf tournament in the country. Here is Jay Drew’s story on how Ponich completed this grueling test of golf over the course of a week.

BYU’s basketball staff added 6-9 combo forward Khadim Mboup from the NBA Academy this past week; he hails from Senegal in Africa. The signing of Mboup finalizes the Cougars’ roster for the coming season.

Here’s my collection of quotes from Big 12 media day coaches and athletic directors.

From the archives

From the X-verse

Extra points

• Tom Holmoe says Pope did the right thing by choosing Kentucky (Deseret News)

• Kalani Sitake among those on “hot seat” ranking (Deseret News)

• Positive outlook for football, says Sitake (KSL Sports)

Fanalysts

Comments from Deseret News readers:

Funny how some BYU haters don’t like it when BYU decides to play the same game everyone else is playing (NIL). For better or worse, that is the nature of college sports now. Utah is playing that game as well, although for them mostly in football. I am a BYU fan, but I do not begrudge Utah for doing everything it can to get the best players possible for their teams. I am sure if a billionaire Ute fan decided to help recruit a really good basketball team for the Utes, then Ute fans would be more than happy about it (I wouldn’t care either, as fair is fair). NIL has transformed the college sports landscape, and programs can either adapt or become completely irrelevant. Both BYU and Utah seem to be doing a pretty good job of adapting in their own ways so far.

— Samwise

By the way, Ute trolls, even if the reason the No. 1 recruit in the country was considering BYU is cold, hard cash, money alone still wouldn’t be enough. Everyone is raiding their collectives to impress potential lottery picks.

Besides large amounts of cash, an elite DI program needs to have an NBA pedigree and be focused on getting those elite athletes into the league, too.

It takes a simpleton mindset to focus on money and say, “That’s the reason he’s going there.” Is it a big reason? Of course it is. It’s how it works at this level, and even more so at the next level. No kidding, Sherlock. Money makes the world go ‘round.

But, it’s completely disingenuous to say it’s the only reason.

Also, FYI, Dybantsa himself specifically stated he liked BYU’s family atmosphere.

So, there are three main boxes that need to be checked, and BYU checks all three. I won’t be surprised if AJ does, in fact, pick BYU in the fall.

— BFair

Up next

• Aug. 3| 7 p.m. | Women’s soccer | Blue vs. White game | @ Provo

• Aug. 7 | TBA | Women’s soccer | Utah Valley | @ Orem

• Aug. 9 | 7 p.m. | Women’s soccer | Wyoming | @ Provo

• Aug. 15 | TBA | Women’s soccer | Wisconsin | @ Provo