In Kansas, Hunter Dickinson gets everything he wanted
After a 34-day wait, the biggest name in the history of college basketball's modern transfer portal era has made his decision.
Hunter Dickinson is taking his talents to Kansas to finish out his college career playing under Bill Self, picking the Jayhawks over Kentucky, Maryland, Georgetown and Villanova. Dickinson made his announcement in a Twitter video on Thursday morning.
For Dickinson, Kansas offers the complete package. Of the candidates, the Jayhawks were the one sure-fire top-10 team, and offering the former All-American the best opportunity to win a national championship.
As a blue blood program, the NIL package for the 7-foot-1 star will be as strong as it would be anywhere, and he can get all of these things while working with one of the best coaches in the business, Self. Lawrence offers winning, attention, money and development. It really was the easiest choice to make.
For Kansas, it makes sense for more reasons than simply the opportunity to reel in a star.
The Jayhawks' biggest question mark last year was frontcourt production, with Self going small and finding success behind KJ Adams at the 5. That being said, playing against teams with true centers was an area of concern. That will no longer be the case.
Dickinson, who has averaged more than 18 points and nine rebounds in each of the last two seasons, will take on that starting center role and play around 33 minutes per game. This will allow Adams to be the starting power forward, a more natural role for a rising junior who averaged more than 10 points per game this past season.
Dickinson also has someone who he can rely on to consistently get him the ball in the right places, as Self welcomes back his point guard Dajuan Harris, one of the nation's assist leaders last season at more than six per game. The senior orchestrator will charge a team that also includes Towson sharpshooter transfer Nick Timberlake and highly touted recruit Elmarko Jackson.
As for how Dickinson handled the decision with a drawn-out process, he played to college basketball's current NIL climate and portal chaos by carrying it out before making the choice public. Dickinson announced Tuesday that he would be doing a new episode of his podcast, only to announce that he was not ready yet because he was getting exhausted by the process. This produced some negative reactions across social media, but in Aaron Rodgers-like fashion, it ignited attention, something good for college basketball in May.
Dickinson will get plenty more of that at one of the leaders every single year in premiere TV window showcases in the sport, Kansas.
And he could reach the sport's mountaintop with a top-5 team in the country while doing all of that.
This move makes a lot of sense.
John Fanta is a national college basketball broadcaster and writer for FOX Sports. He covers the sport in a variety of capacities, from calling games on FS1 to serving as lead host on the BIG EAST Digital Network to providing commentary on The Field of 68 Media Network. Follow him on Twitter @John_Fanta.
