A 7-0 World Cup for the United States dominate U-19 roster ends with a 109-76 triumph of Germany. The USA mostly ran through their opponents besides a close six point victory against Canada in the Quarterfinals led by 20 point performances from AJ Dybantsa and Mikel Brown Jr. For the purpose of this article, I want to highlight some of the top players from an NBA draft lense and where they are at heading into this college basketball season. I also want to talk about an underrated future NBA draft prospect that’s not getting any buzz even at the college level yet.

Tournament MVP: AJ Dybantsa (6’9″ Forward, BYU)

The BYU recruit wins the FIBA U19 tournament MVP. I will say I’m quite surprised this award didin’t go to Mikel Brown Jr (who we will talk about next). AJ did not completely showcase why he’s so highly touted as a prospect this tournament with his lack of jump shot making, shooting just 5/24 on jumpers the entire tournament. He wasn’t himself offensively as a big time shot creator and maker, but there’s some stuff I loved from his game still. I think it’s super encouraging to see how engaged he was despite the jump shot struggles. He was consistently active off the ball defensively, swarming opponents with his size and athleticism. AJ was also unbelievable in the open court with his athletic ability. He had 7 dunks in 7 games, there was nothing the opposition could really do when he got the ball in the open court. A small sample size, but definitely opened by eyes to the possibly of AJ easing into this year at BYU from a shot creation prospective. If a slow start does occur not only for AJ, but any of the potential #1 picks, it’s not the end of the world. We just saw Cooper Flagg ease into his season at Duke from an efficiency standpoint as his shooting spilts were 42/22/72 over a month into his sole season at Duke. I have no doubt AJ will produce at a high level still because of his crazy athletic ability and other tools. It’s a real debate between him, Peterson and Boozer for the #1 pick right now. He needs to be the elite shot maker to be the #1 guy in this class. He presents a very high floor as a prospect being a 6 foot 9 athletic forward who can be a real on ball threat even if the shot for whatever reason isn’t high level.

Mikel Brown Jr (6’4″ Guard, Louisville)

The Louisville commit had a stunning offensive tournament averaging 14.8 points, 5.2 assists on 63% true shooting. His jump-shot making was unreal, shooting 21 for 41 from deep during the tournament, including a few makes well beyond 3pt range. Mikel resembled what you want offensively as a modern NBA guard. It’s the high level shot making with high level passing as well. Brown Jr was great passing the ball. He always had his head up in transition, hitting the ball ahead off live dribble. Mikel was throwing dimes off live dribbles with both hands, could pass in traffic out of pick and roll actions to corner shooters as well. There’s some athletic pop to his game, not a very strong player yet, but there’s vertical athleticism forsure. It’s worth mentioning the defense wasn’t great, and probably won’t be at Louisville or in the NBA early on. Even if he’s super engaged, the strength and foot speed is really lacking right now. It feels like Mikel can enter top 4-5 pick conversations consistently if he dominates on the offensive end this season. There are real strength and defensive concerns to be afraid of, but there’s also upside that he can be an offensive engine with a growing frame. He’s not a small guard, but isn’t huge either. Taking an average sized point guard with a top 5 pick means you have absolute confidence they can be great on the basketball, and there’s reason to believe Mikel can become that.

Koa Peat (6’7″ Forward, Arizona)

It was kind of predictable that this would be a setting that Peat would thrive in, and he did. While the touch was slightly off at moments at the rim, he dominated games with his strength. He has an NBA ready body entering his freshmen year at Arizona. Peat showed off his real mid-range touch this tournament as well. His strength led to good defense guarding other front court guys. There’s no doubt Peat will be a high level college player with his size, touch, ball handling and strength. But there’s growth to be had with Peat if he wants to be a premier NBA draft pick. He doesn’t have much of a three point game right now, there’s not a lot of burst in his game either. As he moves up leagues, and competition gets better, his strength advantage with decrease. I think that’s what’s holding his game up right now. Don’t get me wrong, that’s a super important trait that you kinda need to survive in high level playoffs games. But we’ve seen a guy like Jonathan Kuminga, who’s much more athletic than Peat not have a role in the playoffs at times because of his outside game and some defensive stuff. Unless Peat proves to be a projectable all-nba defender, it’s harder to buy into him being a high level pick if he doesn’t expand his offensive game. He’s very young still so I’m excited to see how this season plays out for him.

Underrated 2027-29 name: Daniel Jacobson (7’3″ Center, Purdue)

Jacobson is a name that I would assume nobody is talking about in even a college basketball sense yet. He played just 26 minutes last year at Purdue, and likely won’t play a lot this year either with Purdue featuring Trey Kaufman-Renn and Oscar Cluff in a stacked front court. Jacobson just pops to me as a guy who’s going to find his way to the NBA in a few years, and as a potential first round pick as well. He’s going to be one of the five tallest players in the NBA, and there’s a level of touch and feel he displayed with USA that caught my eye. Not common for guys this big and young to display real touch and coordination on offense. Jacobson scored a lot for himself off post creation looks, and scoring at the basket with either hand. His footwork was super clean spinning right and left shoulder into hook shots with either hand. I tend to believe guys this big with some sense of coordination get NBA looks. If Jacobson continues to add weight, shows his size as a consistent shot blocker and continues to create post scoring opportunities, I think he can be a first rounder. If I’m Purdue, I would be trying to find ways to increase his role so he can be the front court piece for 2026-27 and potentially longer.