Hunter Dickinson was the first true star of college basketball free agency in the transfer portal. After a productive three-year career at Michigan where he put up huge counting stats and angered every opposing Big Ten fan base, Dickinson transferred to Kansas ahead of his fourth-year to join one of the premier programs in the sport.
In the old days, a player had to sit out a year when transferring to a new school, but not anymore. Dickinson led the wave of portal players who could legally accept money for their services and seek out their best situation personally. Days after he left Michigan, Dickinson offered a quote that showed the new reality of college basketball.
“The people hating on me would leave their job right now for a $10,000 increase,” Dickinson said in a podcast appearance. “I got, at Michigan, less than six figures. I got less than six figures at Michigan for the year.”
Dickinson’s pay at Kansas was never public information, but it was believed to be over $1 million and maybe close to $2 million. At the time, it looked like a hand-in-glove fit between player and program. Kansas had just won the 2022 national championship, and suffered a round of 32 exit the next year because they didn’t have a quality big man. Dickinson was one of the most productive veteran centers in college basketball, who already had a history of providing the interior scoring and pinch of playmaking the Jayhawks needed to get back on top.
On Thursday, Dickinson played his final game of college basketball, and went out sad in every way possible. No. 10 seed Arkansas beat No. 7 seed Kansas, 79-72, in first round play at the 2025 men’s NCAA tournament. The loss puts a cap on the Jayhawks’ incredibly disappointing season as well as Dickinson’s underwhelming career in Lawrence.
Dickinson was just awful against Arkansas, finishing with 11 points on 4-of-13 shooting from the field to go with nine rebounds, four assists, and four turnovers. Dickinson often looked moody and entitled during his time with the Jayhawks, and this was a premium example: in a do-or-die NCAA tournament, he was sloppy with the ball, played with a low motor, and just didn’t seem to care that much.
Dickinson transferred to Kansas to win championships. Instead, Kansas finished No. 5 in the Big 12 in 2024, finished No. 6 in the Big 12 this season, and won only one NCAA tournament game during their two years with the big man.
The Jayhawks were the most disappointing team in college basketball this year. Kansas was No. 1 in the preseason polls after keeping their core from last year (Dickinson, KJ Adams, Dajuan Harris) and augmenting it with more portal additions including Wisconsin’s AJ Storr, South Dakota State’s Zeke Mayo, Alabama’s Rylan Griffen, and others. Self kept his best players and hand-picked new pieces to help his team get over the hump. The issue was trusting his core in the first place.
Dickinson could put up numbers, but he was always a hard player to scheme with. There was a reason why he played five seasons of college basketball despite being a productive 7’1 guy: he was so slow-footed defending the pick-and-roll that NBA teams wanted nothing to do with him. He was a bit soft defensively for someone his size, and while his post-scoring was effective with a lot of touches, it generally wasn’t leading to efficient offense for his team.
Kansas never had enough spacing or shooting during its two years with Dickinson. It was never really great defensively with him, either, and ultimately just felt like a team that lacked versatility as it catered to its highly-paid big man.
Dickinson never did himself any favors as he called opposing programs “scumbags,” bad-mouthed Michigan on numerous occasions, and just carried himself in a way people found unlikable. His biggest sin was that Kansas just wasn’t very good with him on the roster despite his consistent production. Jayhawks fans will be very happy to get some new blood in the program next year.
Dickinson was in the same recruiting class with Cade Cunningham and Evan Mobley, who are finishing their fourth NBA seasons right now. He stuck around college for so long that fans got annoyed hearing about him and watching him, and his antics on the court didn’t help. As Kansas was eliminated on Thursday, college hoops fans celebrated Dickinson’s downfall.
Our long international nightmare is over. It is finally time for Hunter Dickinson to get a real job
— Brian (@BrianJNBA) March 21, 2025
Hunter Dickinson might be playing the laziest game of his career and that’s saying something
— Andrew Joseph (@AndyJ0seph) March 21, 2025
Hunter Dickinson collecting social security while still playing college basketball, but unable to score in the second half of his last-ever game. Hate to see it
— lukezim (@lukezim) March 21, 2025
rest in piss to hunter Dickinson. One of the most miserable college players I’ve had this misfortune of watching. You will not be missed from this sport
— will (@_W1II_) March 21, 2025
Hunter Dickinson is killing Kansas. Non-factor all game. Looks tentative and unsure. I don’t know what’s going on with him.
— stan verrett (@stanverrett) March 21, 2025
Hunter Dickinson is arguably the biggest loser in the history of the NCAA
— Beneath The Paint (@BeneathThePaint) March 21, 2025
Kansas has Darryn Peterson coming in next year, one of the great guard prospects I’ve ever evaluated and the front-runner for the No. 1 NBA Draft pick in 2026. The Jayhawks will be Peterson’s team next season instead of catering to Dickinson, and it will be for the better.
Dickinson ends his college career with more points than JJ Redick, and within shouting distance of legends Larry Bird and Tyler Hansbrough. Of course, he played five years, but his production was still impressive. Unfortunately for him, it feels like Dickinson’s legacy will be falling short in March Madness while being the player everyone loved to hate. He went out sad in his final college game. Maybe that’s the way it was always meant to be.
