One Thought on Hunter Dickinson and Kansas 🧐

EVERYTHING IN THIS NEWSLETTER IS BASED UPON WHAT I AM HEARING FROM PEOPLE I TRUST. PLEASE DO NOT MISTAKE THIS FOR FACT OR FOR ACTUAL JOURNALISM, WHICH HAS VERIFICATION STANDARDS THAT I HAVE NOT ADHERED TO. I DO NOT GUARANTEE THE ACCURACY OF THE CONTENT.

In this Hearings newsletter:

1. Hunter Dickinson, KU, and NIL leverage

That’s it. Happy Friday, and thank you for all of your support! We are officially over 4,000 subscribers. Keep watching for a fun Hearings soon (likely Sunday or Monday).

Note: I’m sure Kansas knows all of this. I wanted you to know, too.

I think it’s important to expand on a point from Thursday’s post on Hunter Dickinson and Kansas. This line probably went unnoticed, but the reason behind it is indicative of the craziness around Dickinson’s recruitment.

I wrote, “Kentucky is currently an unlikely landing spot [for Dickinson].”

The Wildcats were notably missing from a list of early leaders that consisted of Kansas, Georgetown, Maryland, and Villanova (by 247Sports). Kentucky held a Zoom meeting with Dickinson this week, but I’m Hearing its staff had some concerns they were being used as NIL leverage.

The Hearing leaves me genuinely wondering: Could Kansas be used the same way?

Dickinson is a talent The Athletic’s CJ Moore called, “Arguably the most accomplished player to ever hit the transfer portal.” It’s fair to assume a player of this caliber has significant NIL value.

Recruiting is a miserable game to predict. Kansas is very much “in it” for Dickinson. In fact, I’d say the Jayhawks are at least 50/50 in this fight. Still, I can't help but point out how KU stands out, both positively and negatively, compared to other top schools.

Most importantly, Dickinson is from the Washington D.C., area. Georgetown, Maryland, and Villanova are all East Coast programs with clear personal connections to him.

Maryland appears to be the top contender with KU, but they’ve never dealt with a player who commands this kind of value in the NIL era. Still, the Terps recently hired Dickinson’s high school coach and feel like the favorite if they can get their NIL act together. I’ll get back to this point in a minute.

Georgetown has the hometown program edge with a popular new coach in Ed Cooley. It also has a sponsorship deal with Jordan Brand (the same sponsor as Michigan). Villanova has Dickinson’s high school teammate Justin Moore, who announced his intention to return to the school, squashing rumors he may transfer.

Maryland and Georgetown have no record of landing market value for players, so it makes sense that he’d talk to programs that can provide what he’s worth. I’ve heard both Gradey Dick and Jalen Wilson earned close to, or above, $1M this season. Camp Dickinson can rightfully use those numbers as datapoints to force the East Coast programs to up their game.

It’s important to note Kansas has a lot to offer beyond money. The Jayhawks provide a rare chance to star for a blue-blood and Hall-of-Fame coach. He’s a perfect fit for the roster and a dangerous player to pair with Dajuan Harris. Simply: Dickinson will put up big numbers at KU on National TV every game.

Maybe Dickinson is helping out his hometown programs by raising their profile with his interest. Maybe he’s looking at KU to make sure those other programs have their act together. Maybe it’s a little bit of both. I want to be clear: he’s not wrong to do so in any instance.

This is just the new world of recruiting, and The Jayhawks are right smack in the middle of it.

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