Hunter Dickinson committed to Bill Self, Kansas on Wednesday

Hunter Dickinson, the 7-foot-1, 260-pound center from Hyattsville, Md., had one final request for Bill Self on the eve of his commitment announcement. Dickinson, the No. 1 ranked player in the portal, asked Self to visit him on Wednesday. At the time of the conversation, Dickinson, who averaged 18.5 points, 9.0 rebounds, and 1.8 blocks per game this past season at Michigan, told Self there was something he needed to talk about.

During the encounter, Self, who traveled to Washington, D.C., to see Dickinson, was informed shortly thereafter that the player he coveted the most was in fact headed to Lawrence, Kan., to finish out his college career.

On Thursday afternoon, Dickinson talked about telling Self in person.

“Yes,” said Hunter Dickinson when asked if he committed in front of Self on Wednesday. “Yeah, I told him to come see me. I had to talk to him about something and yeah, he flew in yesterday and we recorded all that.”

Coming out of DeMatha High School as a member of the 2020 class, Dickinson, the No. 40 ranked player in the class, committed to Michigan after taking visits to Duke, Notre Dame, Florida State, and a few others.

In 94 total games, Dickinson averaged 17.2 points, 8.4 rebounds, 1.6 assists, and 1.6 blocks per game. Offensively, he shot 57.0 percent from the field, 36 percent from behind the arc, and 75.3 percent from the free-throw line.

At the conclusion of the season, Dickinson ultimately decided to enter the transfer portal. While many programs came calling, only a handful of schools, including Kansas, Kentucky, Maryland, and Villanova, were seriously considered.

Following visits to all of the aforementioned programs, Dickinson was able to make a final decision about his future on Tuesday. He immediately informed his family, told Bill Self on Wednesday, and released a commitment video on Thursday morning.

Dickinson, on Thursday, talked about the process.

“Yeah, yeah. No, the process was longer than I wanted to,” said Dickinson. “I feel like on Twitter everybody thought I wanted to drag it out, but honestly it just took so long because I just wanted to make my visits. But with school and everything, I had to wait for them to be on the weekends and so that kind of is probably what made it go on longer than it could have.

“But I guess on the visit, I got there and just really felt the love that Kansas fans have for the basketball program,” he added. “Obviously it's the winningest program in college basketball and Bill Self there just felt like a real family atmosphere with everybody and I just want to kind of try to contribute to the winning and bring more winning to the program.”

During the season-ending banquet, Bill Self made it clear that he would be living in the portal and was looking forward to putting the 2023-24 roster together as soon as possible. Self, without question, has been about as good as anybody, on the recruiting trail, since the season ended.

Currently, Kansas has added Nicolas Timberlake, Arterio Adams, and Hunter Dickinson. Self still has at least one scholarship left on the table and several options to consider, including Mackenzie Mgbako, the No. 8 ranked player in the 2023 class.

Still, the most important addition of the offseason, at least in the eyes of many, just announced his decision this morning.

“Yeah. Yeah. No, I knew late Tuesday night,” said Dickinson. “I came home and told my parents. We were all really relieved and so we tried to get on the phone with Coach Self and see if he was able to come down here so I could tell him in person and then just tried to get it out as fast as possible because I know that people didn't want me to drag it on.

“But yeah, no, Coach Self definitely made it known how bad he wanted me and my importance to the program and how much I could help this program win,” he added.

In 2008, Kansas won its first National Championship under Self. The Jayhawks returned to the title game in 2012 but came up short against Kentucky. Kansas was back in the Final Four again in 2018 but lost to Villanova, the eventual champ.

Kansas was the team to beat in 2020, but COVID-19 prevented Kansas from capturing its second National Championship under Self. However, in 2022, the Jayhawks, despite trailing by 15 points at the half, rallied to stun North Carolina to give Kansas its second title under Self.

Before signing off, Dickinson, on Thursday, said he’s coming to Kansas to help Self win another championship.

“That's what I came here for, is to try to win another championship for Kansas,” he said. “That was one of the reasons for me coming here is to try to win a national championship, and I feel like we got the players who do it. Don't think we're all the way done yet with the roster, but right now with the current roster we have, I can totally see why we would be up there for one of the favorites to win it.”