National Outlets Project BYU Basketball in their Way-Too-Early Top 25 Rankings

Casey Lundquist | Apr 8, 2025

BYU center Keba Keita throws down a dunk against Baylor / BYU Photo

On Monday night, the college basketball season came to an end as Florida overcame a double-digit deficit to beat Houston in the national championship. With the end of the season comes the way-too-early top 25 rankings for the upcoming season.

The BYU basketball program is coming off a Sweet 16 run and are bringing in the top recruit in the country. National analysts are projecting BYU to be in the top 25 to start the next college basketball season.

Sports Illustrated - Kevin Sweeney

No national writers are higher on BYU that Sports Illustrated's Kevin Sweeney. Sweeney ranks BYU seventh nationally in his preseason top 25.

"Kevin Young took BYU to the Sweet 16 in his first season on the job, and expectations will be even higher in 2025–26 with elite freshman AJ Dybantsa incoming. Dybantsa, who has earned comparisons to Kevin Durant as an elite scorer with size, will be the face of this Cougars team, but there’s plenty of talent around him, too. Richie Saunders was one of the Big 12’s best players in 2024–25 and profiles as a worthy Robin to Dybantsa’s Batman."

- Kevin Sweeney

247Sports - Isaac Trotter

Isaac Trotter puts BYU in the top ten in his way-too-early Top 25. Trotter ranks BYU 8th behind Houston, Duke, Auburn, Texas Tech, St. John's, Kansas, and UConn.

ESPN - Jeff Borzello

Jeff Borzello of ESPN says "all eyes will be on Provo next season". Borzello ranks BYU 16th nationally. Most notably, he believes Demin will head off to the NBA Draft. Demin has not announced his NBA plans as of this writing. "BYU needs a point guard after the departures of Egor Demin and Dallin Hall," Borzello wrote.

Fox Sports - John Fanta

John Fanta of Fox Sports put BYU at no. 21 in his top 25.