Kansas’ Hunter Dickinson addresses upcoming decision about his future at Final Four

Kansas senior center Hunter Dickinson, who is in Phoenix for 2024 Final Four festivities this weekend, provided an update regarding his future Friday as a guest on the Field of 68 podcast.

“I’ve got two good options: return to school or play professionally,” the 7-foot-2, 23-year old Alexandria, Virginia native said, indicating he’s not yet made up his mind regarding a fifth year of college versus entering the 2024 NBA Draft. He was seated next to North Carolina standout Armando Bacot and podcast host Jeff Goodman in an outdoor restaurant near State Farm Stadium.

“I’m not going to break it (news) here,” Dickinson stated. “That was part of the reason coming out here … just my people are out here. My guys are out here, talking to them, really getting feedback and stuff like that, trying to make an educated decision. I’m not trying to feel rushed or anything like that. I’ve got some time so (I’m) just trying to feel it out. I’ll figure out something hopefully relatively soon.”

Dickinson — he played three seasons at Michigan before transferring to Kansas for the 2023-24 campaign — has a super-senior season available if he wishes to return to college ball for a fifth season.

He has until 10:59 p.m. Central on April 27, to place his name in the NBA Draft pool if he elects to test the draft waters.

“We are just chilling out here, going to a lot of different, various meetings and interviews. We (he and Bacot) just came from an NIL meeting, talking about the future of college athletics and stuff,” Dickinson said. “We just did something for CBS Sports HQ, a preview of the Final Four matchups, kind of just going back and forth.”

Dickinson would prefer to be in Phoenix playing in the Final Four, of course.

“It sucks being here,” he said. “I don’t really care who wins. I’m just going to the game (Monday’s title contest) because I’ve got a ticket. Obviously we had high expectations going in (to the season). We dealt with some injuries. We dealt with some departures. Early on we won some games. We beat some really good teams. We showed how good we could be at times.

“We beat UConn. We beat Tennessee. We beat Houston. We showed our highs. We also showed our lows, but that’s kind of what college basketball is right now. You’ve got to win a tournament (by being) consistent. You’ve got to be able to put together six straight wins. Unfortunately we weren’t able to do that. I think if Kevin (McCullar who missed the postseason) was healthy it might have been different.”

Dickinson, who earned first-team all-Big 12 honors in 2023-24 for KU (23-11), praised one of the participants — Purdue center Zach Edey. Dickinson knows him well having played against the 7-foot-4 senior when he was at Michigan.

“His game has really evolved. He’s getting better and better. He’s only been playing for a couple years,” Dickinson said, praising the fact Edey has become an excellent free-throw shooter in his time in college. “I think his best basketball is still ahead of him.”