The Associated Press released its 2025-26 preseason All-America team on Monday, and two Big 12 stars earned the kind of national recognition that sets the tone before a single tip-off. Texas Tech forward JT Toppin and BYU freshman phenom AJ Dybantsa were both named to the five-man list, placing them among the top players in all of college basketball entering the new season.
Toppin returns to Lubbock after a breakout sophomore campaign that saw him average 18.2 points and 9.4 rebounds while anchoring Texas Tech’s frontcourt on both ends of the floor. His blend of size, touch, and physicality made him one of the most difficult matchups in the league last year, and now he’s positioned to become the face of a Red Raider team with legitimate championship aspirations. There is no longer a conversation about whether he belongs among the elite. That answer was settled last season. Now it’s about how far he can take this Texas Tech team with everything running through him.
Dybantsa, meanwhile, arrives at BYU carrying the kind of hype few freshmen in the country can match. A five-star talent who drew attention from every blue-blood program in America, Dybantsa turned heads the moment he committed to the Cougars. Now, before ever suiting up in a college game, he finds himself listed as one of the five best players in the country by the Associated Press. That does not happen often. For BYU, it is a massive endorsement of the direction the program is headed in and a signal that their jump to the Big 12 is already paying recruiting dividends.
While the two players could not be more different in terms of experience, their inclusion on this list puts the spotlight squarely on the Big 12. Toppin represents the kind of development and dominance that has made the league a proving ground for NBA talent. Dybantsa represents its future, with the kind of upside that could carry a program and alter the national conversation. For Texas Tech and BYU, it is a moment of validation. For the rest of the Big 12, it is another reminder that the conference is home to some of the most impactful players in the country, and the national media knows it.
