Gordon Monson: What’s this? BYU lands the No. 1 recruit in the country? The Cougars are playing a new game.

The degree to which things at BYU have changed can be summed up in one short sentence.

This sentence: AJ Dybantsa is signing with the Cougars.

To that, Cougars and non-Cougars alike might blurt out an expression — meant to declare giddy amazement on the one hand and/or profane surprise on the other — that indeed would be an Honor Code violation.

It’s not as though Dybantsa’s decision is a complete shock. He’s had BYU on his shortlist for some time. Still, to actually see it come to fruition is ... unprecedented.

It might be old news — well, he announced a couple of hours ago on ESPN — by now, but it’s new news at BYU and new for schools like North Carolina and Kansas to be beat out by the Cougars. If it actually becomes old news, old hat, here and there and everywhere, in that such signings happen on the reg, then look for BYU to make a serious mark on basketball, not just in the college game’s best league, but from the courts on one coast to courts on the other, anchored right here on courts in the shadow of the Wasatch.

If you don’t know much about Dybantsa, you will. Chances are, you will.

The kid is the No. 1 basketball recruit in the country. He’s been prepping for his stint with BYU at Utah Prep, having gotten to know the Cougars and especially new — everything is fresh with BYU hoops — coach Kevin Young. He’s a major reason the ridiculously talented 6-9 forward is headed to Provo. Why, exactly? What has Young done in college basketball so far? Not a lot.

His first season at BYU commenced weeks ago, but his reputation as an educator who can ready gifted players, players with no real intention of wearing a cap and gown inside the traditional timeframe of donning them, but with very real designs on playing in the NBA as a high draft pick in the near future, is significant. His time in the NBA, a league that’s even better than the Big 12, especially spent with the Phoenix Suns, cemented that renown.

Dybantsa said as much on ESPN’s First Take when he unzipped his sweatshirt to reveal a BYU T-shirt underneath and slapped on a BYU cap as he announced he’s going to BYU and the reason is he thought Young is positioned to get him there.

“A lot stood out on my visit,” Dybantsa said. “Obviously, coach Kevin Young [is] there. You know, my ultimate goal is to get to the NBA. He coached my favorite player all-time, Kevin Durant. He had high praise about him. … I’m trying to get to the NBA. I think it’s the best development for me.”

He even threw in a “Go Cougs.”

When asked who his game mirrored, Dybantsa said a combination of Tracy McGrady and Shai Gilgeous-Alexander. His father, who was also on set, said he plays like LeBron James.

It’s not, then, like anybody, himself included, is setting any kind of high standard for AJ.

All of that aside, just as significant, no matter what anybody says to the contrary, is the stack of NIL cash BYU can provide for guys like Dybantsa. They figure they’re on their way, if everything goes according to plan, to hauling a whole lot more gold in the years ahead, but why not get generational money right from jump? Purists hate that idea, all the while, as they complain about the changes in the college game, knowing full well that if they were in a similar situation, they’d back their own Brinks truck up as immediately as they could.

Dybantsa can. To the tune of a fistful of millions.

That’s right, millions of dollars for a single season of basketball. That’s just the way it is, the way it is at the top end of college ball, and the way it is now at BYU.

It was never like this before. BYU never signed anyone close to the No. 1 recruit in the land. Never. They built their reputation on mostly gutsy players who could score, players who were two notches up from the guys playing down at the church gym for the Millcreek 3rd Ward, with a few notable exceptions mixed in. I mean, Kresimir Cosic was a remarkable player, Danny Ainge, fantastic, Jimmer Fredette, fun to watch.

But those were notable exceptions for BYU teams that were likely to compete in good years for a league title in some backwater conference, and then … and then suffer quick exits in the NCAA Tournament, if they qualified at all.

Ainge is still fondly remembered and lauded for leading his Cougars to the Elite Eight — in 1981. Exceptional talent at BYU, though, was and usually is, or at least has been, in short supply.

Not anymore.

Now it’s a matter of whether Young can do and improve upon what John Calipari and others have done and are doing. Namely, take what he’s getting — players like freshmen Egor Demin and Kanon Catchings — and develop them and take advantage of them, while the taking’s good, and, equally important for the win-loss record, blend them with longer-term teammates, guys who are more likely to earn a degree like an MBA, rather than an NBA.

Young also has gotten a commitment from Xavion Staton, a four-star 7-footer from Vegas who seemingly blocks as many shots as he feels like interfering with, and Chamberlain Burgess, a more traditional top recruit, but not to be taken for granted, out of Orem.

Now, there’s Dybantsa, the real prize. The top prize. A whole new level.

As Young reels in a player like that, and the others, too, pressure also mounts on him to do something with them. But it’s more than apparent that he’d happily take the pressure alongside the talent rather than try to win without it. One of the major reasons Young left his coaching position in the NBA to arrive in Provo was because of certain conditions — yeah, new conditions — that not only included substantial NIL backing, but also a staff with NBA connections.

Dybantsa mentioned that, indicating that if his goal is to play in the NBA, why wouldn’t he want to be surrounded by coaches with the experience to rocket him forward in the pursuit.

So, there’s a new era at BYU. The beginnings are in place, waiting to be pushed upward and onward in short order. This season’s iteration of the Cougars will be interesting to watch, considering their infusion of young talent. It’s been hit and miss thus far. But as this wave washes through, a second wave is on its way, and maybe a third. Tasty waves, and BYU is anticipating an attendant righteous buzz.

Big things had best come out of this initial set. Young was paid a huge amount of money, by BYU standards, not just to draw in NBA talent, but to make it BYU talent, too, enough to compete at the top of the Big 12. Tuesday’s good news can turn into great news. But only if the expected development and blending is realized. Making it real is the only thing that will transform what has been forever good, almost always good, at BYU freshly, newly great.

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