Hunter Dickinson commitment results in major college basketball championship odds change

The 2023 college hoops offseason is pure pandemonium at the moment. Hundreds of players are coming and going out of the Transfer Portal while several hundred more have decisions to make about their extra COVID years or the NBA Draft, etc. It’s the time of year when rosters are in complete flux and very few programs have their lineups completely set.

Some folks apparently find this a good time to bet on the 2023-24 national championship — and maybe there is real value to be found betting it at this time of year, especially if you have a hunch that a certain team may pick up a top transfer. That was the case for the Kansas Jayhawks, who just nabbed On3’s No. 1 overall player in the Transfer Portal: Hunter Dickinson, a three-year star and All-American at Michigan. Of course, his addition spiked KU’s 2024 title odds quite a bit.

Just yesterday, May 3, Kansas was listed as +2500, or 25-1, to win the 2024 championship. One day and one Hunter Dickinson commitment later, on Star Wars Day, they’ve leapt up to +1200, or 12-1, making them the second favorite to public darling Duke at +1100.

The jump for Kansas makes sense considering they added Dickinson, but this wasn’t shocking new necessarily. Kansas was probably the favorite to get him heading into the commitment, although he did a good job keeping it tight-lipped. But even if it was up in the air, Kansas and two other schools were the primary competition for him. It just seems weird for odds to be nearly cut in half over one player who was more or less presumed to be coming to Lawrence already.

As for the addition on the court, Dickinson gives Bill Self exactly what the Jayhawks were missing on the 2024 roster and never really had on the 2023 roster: a true big. KJ Adams, hat’s off to him, because he did a Herculean job filling in as the team’s primary center despite standing as a 6-foot-7 forward. He’ll be relieved to know he has another big body starting alongside him this year.

Elsewhere, Dajuan Harris is back and ready to grow into a typical veteran Bill Self point guard as he enters his redshirt senior season. Then, the Jawhawks nabbed talented wings Arterio Morris (Texas) and Nick Timberlake (Towson) to fill out their likely starting five. With a few bench pieces coming in as freshmen or returning after playing smaller roles last season, it’s safe to assume Self will have another contender in the Big 12 next winter.