Kansas basketball center Hunter Dickinson announces return to KU for final season

Hunter Dickinson, a 7-foot-2 senior center who earned first-team all-Big 12 honors during the 2023-24 season at Kansas, has decided to remain at KU for his fifth and final season of college basketball.

Dickinson on Friday announced on social media site X that he’s decided to put the NBA Draft on hold another year and play for the Jayhawks. He opened his college career by playing three seasons at Michigan.

The decision played out in humorous fashion on X.

Coach Bill Self posted this at 1 p.m., Friday: “Hey @H_Dickinson24, have you made a decision yet? Everybody wants to know what you’re thinking?”

Dickinson answered his coach’s post 30 minutes later, saying: “Yeah you’re right coach. I guess it’s time to tell everyone I’m coming back! Rock Chalk!”

Dickinson, a native of Alexandria, Virginia, averaged 17.9 points and 10.9 rebounds per game last season for the Jayhawks (23-11). Dickinson hit 54.8% of his shots. He was 23-of-65 from 3 for 35.4%. He hit 68 of 109 free throws for 62.4%. He had 76 assists to 58 turnovers with 47 blocked shots.

“This is great news,” Kansas coach Self said in a release. “We’ve had a lot of good things happen since the end of the season, and Hunter coming back has definitely added to that. Hunter made a huge impact on our team last year. He played and fought through injuries and was still one of the most consistent players in the Big 12 and nationally. Not only is Hunter a terrific player, he’s a great leader and teammate. We expect him to contend for first-team All-American next season.”

The 2024 Big 12 Newcomer of the Year recorded his 17th double-double of the season with 19 points and 20 rebounds against Samford on March 21 in the first round of the NCAA Tournament.

His 17 double-doubles led the Big 12 and ranked 12th nationally. Dickinson was the only player in the Big 12 to average a double-double. He also led the Big 12 with 14 games of 20-plus points.

Dickinson has 2,208 points and 1,148 rebounds and is one of four active players in NCAA Division I to surpass both 2,200 points and 1,100 rebounds for his career. Others include Zach Edey (Purdue), Armando Bacot (North Carolina) and Baylor Schereman (Creighton).

Dickinson had until 10:59 p.m. Central on Saturday to enter the draft if he wished to do so.

KU with the addition of portal transfers Rylan Griffen (Alabama), AJ Storr (Wisconsin), Riley Kugel (Florida) and Zeke Mayo (South Dakota State), as well as incoming freshmen Flory Bidunga and Rakease Passmore, currently has 13 scholarship players on the 2024-25 roster. Teams are allowed 13 scholarship players in accordance with NCAA rules. KU has to have one under the limit on scholarship either this year or 2025-26 to complete self-imposed NCAA sanctions.

The players who are listed as returnees at this time are: KJ Adams, Zach Clemence, Hunter Dickinson, Dajuan Harris, Johnny Furphy, Jamari McDowell and Elmarko Jackson.

Furphy has declared for the 2024 NBA Draft with the option of returning to school. KU has not yet announced the signing of Kugel to a financial aid agreement.