BYU-bound AJ Dybantsa shares reaction to photo with Meleek Thomas from the Jordan Brand Classic

Modified Apr 23, 2025 22:29 GMT

2025 Nike Hoop Summit - Source: Getty

Five-star forward and BYU signee AJ Dybantsa on Tuesday reacted to a picture of him with five-star Arkansas-bound guard Meleek Thomas. The picture, along with several others from the Jordan Brand Classic, was posted on Instagram by Shooting Starz.

Dybantsa shared the post on his Instagram story, reacting with two crossed fingers emojis.

AJ Dybantsa’s Instagram story

The Jordan Brand Classic is an elite basketball event that has featured big names. The 2025 edition was held Friday in the CareFirst Arena in Washington, D.C., featuring the biggest names in high school basketball.

Oklahoma signee Aaliyah Chavez dominated the girls game, earning the MVP award. On the other hand, Syracuse-bound Kiyan Anthony won the boys MVP honor.

Anthony led Team Air to a 141-124 victory over Team Flight, which had AJ Dybantsa and Arkansas signees Darius Acuff and Meleek Thomas. Anthony scored 26 points on 11-of-15 shooting along with five rebounds.

Dybantsa led Team Flight with 25 points and seven rebounds while Acuff scored 22 points. Thomas followed with 16 points, with 12 points from Kentucky signee Jasper Johnson, 11 from Houston’s Chris Cenac, and 10 from Sadiq White.

Before the Friday event, Dybantsa and Thomas also teamed up with other stars on the West Team in the McDonald's All-American Game. Along with stars like Kansas signee Darryn Peterson, Washington signee Niko Bundalo and USC-bound Alijah Arenas, they beat the East Team 105-92.

While Peterson led the West Team in points with 18 points, Dybantsa followed with 17 points. Peterson and Cameron Boozer shared the MVP award. Boozer led the East Team with 16 points.

BYU's recruiting and AJ Dybantsa's place

AJ Dybantsa is an important piece in the powerful roster Kevin Young has built at BYU. It is a revolution that started with the last recruiting cycle and is continuing ahead of next season. The addition of Baylor guard Robert Wright III is the latest indicator of Young's seriousness with his project at BYU.

Dybantsa voiced his respect for Wright's talent in an interview:

“Pure point guard. I mean, we played with each other one time at, like, SLAM, but it’s going to be live — pure point guard. He’s a winner. He can get a bucket when he needs to. So, it’s a great pickup for us.”

Dybantsa is ESPN’s top-ranked prospect in the 2025 class.

About the author

Kayode is a College and High School Sports writer at Sportskeeda since June 2023. Hailing from Nigeria, he has an undergraduate degree in Linguistics and African Languages, and has previously had stints as an entertainment and politics writer for around 7 months. Adept at creating content around historical perspectives, he strives to report stories based only on verified information. His mantra is - truth is always more important than sensationalism.

A fan of the Alabama Crimson Tide football team, Kayode admires how Nick Saban developed talent at the team and delivered consistent results, and hopes that the post-Saban era is just as fruitful. He is thoroughly impressed by Johnny Manziel’s talent, and feels that Shedeur Sanders is massively underrated. Nick Saban is his all-time favorite college coach.

While Kayode believes there is little to separate college and mainstream sports, pro leagues absorbing the best athletes leads to their quality being higher. Witnessing the Colorado Buffaloes’ hot streak at start the 2023 football season was one of his all-time favorite college sports moments.

When not writing, Kayode enjoys reading and watching sports documentaries. His most recent watch was "Sir Alex Ferguson: Never Give In."

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Edited by Joseph Schiefelbein