Darryn Peterson vs. AJ Dybantsa is prospect matchup for the ages -- and Super Bowl for tanking NBA teams

Super Bowl LX will take place next weekend between the Seattle Seahawks and the New England Patriots in the final game of the NFL season. However, the Super Bowl for NBA Draft enthusiasts, fans of tanking teams and NBA decision makers who hope the lottery balls fall their way in May will take place on Saturday in Lawrence, Kansas, when AJ Dybantsa and BYU play Darryn Peterson and Kansas.

In a normal year, getting a matchup of projected top-three picks is a delight. This season? It's a whole new level. The race for the No. 1 pick is wide open heading into February. Ask 10 different people who they think the order should be between Dybantsa, Peterson and the current National Player of the Year favorite Cameron Boozer at Duke, and you will get multiple different answers.

College basketball fans were supposed to get this heavyweight matchup earlier this season when Duke faced Kansas in the Champions Classic during the opening month of the season. However, Peterson didn't play due to a hamstring injury that kept him out of the lineup for nearly a month. Even last weekend, Peterson missed Kansas' showdown against Kansas State after suffering an ankle injury against Colorado.

This is a matchup college basketball fans haven't seen in quite some time. Truthfully, it might be a while before we see something like this happen again. In corner (bench) No. 1, you have Peterson, who is considered one of the greatest guard prospects of this generation. In corner (bench) No. 2, you have Dybantsa, who was ranked as the No. 1 prospect in his class for quite some time before Peterson jumped him in the 247Sports rankings.

By all accounts, landing one of Peterson or Dybantsa in the draft would give a franchise a foundational building block for the future. This freshman class has already put up historic numbers, and this matchup is a culmination of the hype and stellar play we have seen thus far.

Tale of the tape

Scouting Peterson and Dybantsa with an eye to the NBA

(by CBS Sports Director of Basketball Scouting Adam Finkelstein)

There is a very real debate about who the No. 1 pick is this year, and it's a debate that has been going back and forth for well over a year now. There are a lot of different iterations of it. At 247Sports, we had Peterson ranked as the No. 1 prospect coming out of high school. We moved him past Dybantsa in April, ahead of the release of the final class of 2025 rankings.

But, Dybantsa has raised the level of his game this season at BYU, and there are real, persistent questions about Peterson's durability (he has missed 10 of Kansas 20 games), so the debate for No. 1 rages on now deep into their college seasons.

Also, I think Duke's Cameron Boozer has been and remains part of the No. 1 debate as well. My stance coming out of high school, which is now being echoed by a lot of NBA scouts and decision-makers, is that Boozer's floor is the highest -- his worst-case scenario is still a very productive NBA player. Now, Boozer doesn't have the same ceiling that Peterson and especially Dybantsa have, but there is almost no scenario anyone can envision where Boozer does not impact winning at the next level.

There is some risk with Peterson and Dybantsa, but I have had multiple NBA executives admit to me that they are terrified of missing out on Peterson and Dybantsa.

Scouting Peterson: Lethal shot-maker, dominant primary initiator 

We had Peterson as the No. 1-ranked prospect coming out of high school last year, and to be honest, when he has been on the floor this year, he's been even better than expected, especially with his shot-making. He is making the type of difficult shots, with consistency that were not necessarily a regular part of his arsenal a year ago. And because of his injuries, I am not sure that we've seen Peterson with 100% of his explosiveness this season.  So, as good as he's been in spurts, I think there is a very good case to be made that he would be even better if he were healthy.

Peterson is a primary initiator who plays with the ball in his hands and can be the primary domino in someone's offense. But he also has some off ball vesatility which we've seen at Kansas this year. He can slide off the ball, and due to the progression of his shotmaking, come off pin-downs and different kinds of screening action away from the ball to score effectively.

Scouting Dybantsa: Physical phenom, elite midrange scorer

Dybantsa is the most physically gifted prospect in the class in terms of position size, length, athleticism and even elasticity, with how someone his size can bend.  The best part of his game is his ability to get to his spot, rise and fire over the defense in the midrange game. Dybantsa also got a real knack for drawing fouls. He did it in more of a theatrical way in high school, where he was always flopping, but this year he has gotten better at legitimately playing through contact. The three-point shooting remains an important swing skill.

The most notable thing for Dybantsa is that a year ago, when he was a senior in high school, he really seemed to plateau. There were no real notable gains in his game. And then from a competitive standpoint, he wasn't as locked in with his approach to the game -- it was more of a show, where he was always playing to the cameras and not putting winning at the forefront. That has all changed this year at BYU. Kevin Young has done a phenomenal job of not only getting Dybantsa to maximize his production and be about the right things, but also has surrounded him with extreme spacing and given him the total freedom to put up the type of numbers we are now seeing.

In terms of Dybantsa's NBA position, I think he's more of a three. That is part of the question NBA scouts and decision makers have: when things aren't all built around him like they are this year at BYU, what does it look like if he is the second or third option? Because by NBA standards, some of the decision making still has to go to another level before one of the 30 franchises give him the ball and trusts him to be the primary domino in their attack.

History between Peterson and Dybantsa

Peterson finished as the No. 1 player in the 2025 recruiting cycle by 247Sports, while Dybantsa was second. Dybantsa was originally supposed to be a member of the 2026 recruiting class but elected to reclassify to 2025 to be eligible for this summer's NBA Draft. At one point, the 2025 recruiting class had Peterson, Dybantsa, Boozer and Cooper Flagg, who was the No. 1 overall pick in the 2025 NBA Draft.

Flagg reclassified to be eligible for the 2025 NBA Draft. Had Flagg stayed in this class, it could've made what should be an all-time class even better.

Peterson and Dybantsa have history dating back to the high school ranks. Peterson, who was a member of national prep powerhouse Prolific Prep, finished with 61 points, seven rebounds and five assists during an 88-86 win over Utah Prep, which is the school Dybantsa played at during his final season. Before that, Dybantsa played at Prolific Prep, but the two didn't overlap.

In that game, Dybantsa finished with 49 points, nine rebounds and three assists. The two also faced off in the McDonald's All-American Game last spring. Peterson scored 18 points and was named co-MVP of the event with Boozer. Dybantsa scored 13 in that game.

In the CBS Sports NBA Prospect Rankings, Peterson is No. 1 and Dybantsa is No. 2. If Peterson and Dybantsa go off the board this summer with the first two picks, it would mark the latest matchup of that since 2010.

Below is the history of when top-three picks faced each other in the college ranks.

Duke vs. Baylor: 2025 NCAA Tournament

Matchup: Cooper Flagg (No. 1) vs. VJ Edgecombe (No. 3)

As my colleague Adam Finkelstein wrote last spring, Flagg and Edgecombe going head-to-head in the NCAA Tournament was the most star-powered NBA Draft matchup in years. Of course, Flagg was selected No. 1 overall by the Dallas Mavericks, while Edgecombe was taken two picks later at No. 3 by the Philadelphia 76ers. While Flagg and Edgecombe were the headliners, this game also featured two more top 10 picks on the Duke side in Kon Knueppel (No. 4 overall) and Khaman Maluach (No. 10).

The Blue Devils cruised to an 89-66 win over Baylor to advance to the Sweet 16. Edgecombe finished with 16 points and six rebounds in his final collegiate game. Meanwhile, Flagg recorded 18 points, nine rebounds and six assists in 29 minutes of play. With how good this draft class projects to be, we could see another matchup like this during the spring.

Gonzaga vs. Duke: 2021-22 regular season

Matchup:  Paolo Banchero (No. 1) vs. Chet Holmgren (No. 2)

The last matchup in college between the No. 1 and 2 overall picks from the same draft came in 2021, when Duke faced Gonzaga. Not only was it an elite prospect matchup between Duke's Paolo Banchero and Gonzaga's Chet Holmgren, but it was also a game between two of the best teams in the sport. Gonzaga and Duke entered this game 6-0.

Duke was able to come away with an 84-81 win over the Bulldogs behind 21 points from Banchero. Holmgren scored 16 points and added seven rebounds in the loss to the Blue Devils. Duke lost in the Final Four that season to North Carolina in coach Mike Krzyzewski's final season at the helm of the program.

UCLA vs. Washington: 2016-17 regular season

Matchup: Markelle Fultz (No. 1) vs. Lonzo Ball (No. 2)

The last time the top two picks from the same draft faced off in conference play, you have to go back to 2017. At the time, Lonzo Ball was one of the most recognizable faces in basketball -- at any level -- after rising to fame during his time at Chino Hills High School in Southern California.

UCLA and Washington faced off twice during the 2016-17 campaign. In the first contest, Ball dropped 22 points while Fultz scored 25 in a 107-66 win for UCLA. In the second matchup, which took place in Southern California, Ball finished with 19 points, eight assists and seven rebounds during UCLA's 98-66 win. Notably, Fultz didn't play in the second game.

Kansas vs. Duke: 2013-14 regular season

Matchup: Andrew Wiggins (No. 1) and Joel Embiid (No. 3) vs. Jabari Parker (No. 2)

This game featured the first three picks in the 2014 NBA Draft. Kansas had Andrew Wiggins, who at the time was one of the most hyped up NBA prospects this decade, and Embiid, who went on to win NBA MVP. On the other side, Duke was led by Jabari Parker, who ended up going No. 2 overall to the Milwaukee Bucks.

In this game, Parker scored a game-high 27 points and added nine rebounds. Wiggins finished with 22 points and eight rebounds in 25 minutes, while Embiid came off the bench and logged just 20 minutes. Kansas was able to come away with a 94-83 win over Duke in the Champions Classic.

Kentucky vs. Florida: 2011-12 regular season

Matchup: Anthony Davis (No. 1) and Michael Kidd-Gilchrist (No. 2) vs. Bradley Beal (No. 3)

Anthony Davis' 2011-12 season is considered by most to be the best one-and-done year in college basketball history. Davis helped Kentucky win its last national title and won National Player of the Year honors after a standout season en route to becoming the No. 1 overall pick in the 2012 NBA Draft.

Florida and Kentucky played each other three times that season -- twice during the regular season and once in the SEC Tournament. In the first matchup between the teams, No. 1 Kentucky defeated No. 8 Florida 78-58 behind 16 points from Davis and a double-double (13 points, 13 rebounds) from Kidd-Gilchrist. Beal dropped 14 points in the first matchup. In the second game, it was Davis who recorded a double-double (22 points, 12 rebounds), while Beal finished with just five points on 1-of-10 shooting.

Duke vs. Arizona: 2011 NCAA Tournament

Tale of the tape: Kyrie Irving (No. 1) vs. Derrick Williams (No. 2)

If you don't remember Irving's career at Duke, well, here is a refresher: The No. 1 overall pick in the 2011 NBA Draft appeared in just 11 games for (at the time) the reigning national champions. Irving did return for the NCAA Tournament and dropped 28 points in his final collegiate game.

However, Irving was outplayed by Williams, who finished with 32 points, 13 rebounds and two steals during the upset win over the Blue Devils. Williams raised his draft stock during that tournament run and was selected No. 2 overall by the Minnesota Timberwolves.