Just a few years ago, it seemed like Hunter Dickinson was poised to rule the college basketball world. The first major coup of the Juwan Howard era at Michigan, Dickinson's combination of 7-foot size and skill immediately proved too much for most teams to handle. He led the Wolverines to a Big Ten regular-season title as a freshman, and while their NCAA Tournament run fell just short in the Elite 8, it felt like just the beginning of something special.
Dickinson wasn't a one-and-done type, lacking the sort of athleticism and lateral quickness that would've made him an NBA lottery pick. But he was already a star at the college level, with a nuanced post game, passing chops and even a nascent jumper. With Howard as his mentor, the sky appeared to be the limit.
What a difference a few years can make. Dickinson was unable to prevent the Howard era at Michigan from quickly unraveling, barely eking into the tournament in 2022 before missing it entirely in 2023. The Wolverines decided to make a coaching change, and Dickinson decided on a change of scenery — and a hefty NIL package — at Kansas.
Bill Self and the Jayhawks thought it was a coup, an All-American to build a title contender around. But two years later, Dickinson's time at Kansas ended more or less exactly the way his time at Michigan did. And Jayhawks fans have learned what Wolverines fans already knew: that with Dickinson, for all his talent, somehow the whole winds up being less than the sum of the parts.
Hunter Dickinson never delivered on what was promised at Kansas — not that Michigan fans are surprised
Kansas began the season ranked No. 1 in the country, with Dickinson coming back for one last hurrah. But a bumpy regular season resulted in just a 7-seed in the NCAA Tournament, and a tricky matchup with John Calipari and Arkansas.
The Razorbacks figured to be a tough test. But what we didn't expect was for Arkansas to basically play Dickinson off the floor: In his final game as a Jayhawk, the star big man put together one of the very worst performances of his Kansas career, scoring just 11 points on 4-of-13 shooting with nine rebounds, four assists and four turnovers. Kansas made its second-half charge with Dickinson on the bench, and collapsed late when Self put him back on the floor in a 79-72 loss.
Which is something of a theme for the big man: As impressive a college player as he is, and as gaudy as his resume will look in the history books, he just never found a way to elevate his team in the way that you'd hope a 7-footer with that much skill could. It was always the opponent who found a way to take him out of the game, and while his teammates caught the blame toward the end at Michigan, at this point it should be clear that this is just who Dickinson is.