Hunter Dickinson on preseason polls: ‘We’ve got to reach that potential’

Kansas is going to enter this next season in college basketball as one of the top teams in the nation. It’s now a matter of living up to those preseason billings for the Jayhawks according to Hunter Dickinson.

Dickinson spoke about what the summer looks like for Kansas during a recent availability with the media. He said much of it is about coming together as a group to be what everyone thinks they could be. That’s going to take plenty of work by them and Bill Self to make sure what they’ve put together is the kind of team that’s worthy of a top ranking nationally coming in.

“Just continuing to, you know, grow as a team,” said Dickinson. “I think we need to take a couple steps this summer to prepare for the season because we’re going to have another target on our back.”

“Obviously, there are preseason polls but we’re pretty much top-five in most of them – and I think rightfully so because we’ve got a really talented group of guys that potentially could be really good,” Dickinson said. “Obviously, potentially because we’ve got to reach that potential but the pieces are there. We’ve got to try to make sure they fit. I think Coach Self is probably the best in the country at that job.”

Last season didn’t go as planned for Kansas at 23-11 with the losses being their most ever under Self. They still spent much of the year in the Top-10 and won enough games to compete in the NCAA Tournament. With that said, injuries, specifically to Kevin McCullar, really took away from what they could have possibly been in conference play and the postseason.

Now, for ’24-’25, Kansas has put together quite the roster to make up and be once again back in contention.

For the Jayhawks, that starts with returning a core of starters with Dickinson along with Dajuan Harris and KJ Adams. From there, they’ll add seven new names to the team with five transfers and a pair of freshman.

Kansas has pieced together a Top-10 class in the portal per On3’s 2024 Team Transfer Portal Rankings. AJ Storr (Wisconsin), Zeke Mayo (South Dakota State), Rylan Griffen (Alabama), Shakeel Moore (Mississippi State), and Noah Shelby (Rice) have all committed to come to Lawrence this offseason. Storr (No. 9 overall, No. 4 SG), Mayo (No. 16, No. 3 PG), and Griffen (No. 19, No. 5 SG) are the highlights as Top-20 players in On3’s 2024 Transfer Portal Top Players. Moore (No. 285, No. 25 CG) also cracked the Top-300 in those rankings.

As a duo, Flory Bidunga and Rakease Passmore make up the No. 9 recruiting class in the country. That’s per On3’s 2024 Industry Team Recruiting Rankings. Both are four-stars in 2024 with Bidunga in the Top-20 as the No. 4 C. Passmore also rated in the Top-50 as a Top-15 SF.

Titles are the expectation at Kansas and being a top-five team makes you an early favorite to do just that. All that’s left now is for these Jayhawks to find a way to fulfill those projections and become the fifth champion in program history.

“We’re all excited,” said Dickinson.