Hunter Dickinson says he "will always think of myself as a Michigan man." But he will finish his college basketball career at Kansas.
After entering the transfer portal in March, Dickinson announced Thursday in a video on Twitter that he will be playing for the Jayhawks next season.
"This decision might even have been harder than the first one coming out of high school, having all these coaches hit you up again," said Dickinson, who was also considering interest from Villanova, Kentucky, Georgetown and Maryland, as well as a potential return to Michigan. "I’m just really glad it's over now."
The video ends with Dickinson meeting Kansas head coach Bill Self in a conference room and saying, "I just wanted to tell you that I’m gonna come play for you next year at Kansas."
"I was hoping it was going to be good news," said Self.
Dickinson, a 7'1 center, was Michigan's leading scorer and rebounder and an All-Big Ten selection each of his three years in Ann Arbor. He's the third major loss for the Wolverines this offseason, with guards Kobe Bufkin and Jett Howard departing for the NBA.
He'll be joining a Kansas program that won the national championship in 2022, was a No. 1 seed in this year's NCAA Tournament and is bringing in a top-10 recruiting class. Michigan stumbled to an 18-16 record this year and missed the Tournament for the first time in eight years. Its record has slipped each of the last three seasons under Juwan Howard.
In a letter to Michigan, Dickinson thanked the coaching staff, "who believed in me and made me the player I am today." And he said that if he "could do it all over again (as a recruit) out of high school, there is no doubt in my mind that I would make the same choice. That being said, it’s time for me to move on."
"After I get me degree in the summer I will always think of myself as a Michigan man," Dickinson said. "I know the decision to transfer came as a shock, and I hope that with time you can come to understand why I chose to do it."
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