From coveted recruit to Kentucky basketball villain. Can the Cats stop Hunter Dickinson?

A few months ago, it seemed a good shot that Hunter Dickinson would be a central storyline at the Champions Classic.

Just not in this way.

During another wild summer of transfer portal comings and goings, Dickinson — a 7-foot-2 center and three-year star at Michigan — was the clear-cut No. 1 prize.

And, for a time, Kentucky appeared to be the most likely landing spot.

With incoming 7-footer Aaron Bradshaw injured, holdover 7-footer Ugonna Onyenso unproven, and the man in the middle for UK’s previous two seasons — Oscar Tshiebwe — still uncertain of his future, John Calipari and the Wildcats went all-in on Dickinson with the idea of getting him on the roster and figuring out the positional ramifications later.

But after multiple visits in multiple states between the two — including a trip to Lexington — the experienced big man picked rival blue blood Kansas instead.

Dickinson, for his part, acknowledged the move as a “selfish” one. He claimed that despite being a star from the get-go in Ann Arbor, he made “less than six figures” during his junior season at Michigan, all while college basketball players with lesser credentials had much higher payouts connected to their names.

The 22-year-old also made no secret of his motives during — and especially after — his time in the transfer portal.

“The people hating on me would leave their job right now for a $10,000 increase,” Dickinson said on his podcast after his commitment, acknowledging the financial motives of his decision. “… I did have a legacy (at Michigan), and I basically gave that up to try to be selfish and do what’s best for me and my career, not what’s best for anybody else’s career.”

Calipari implied — without mentioning Dickinson by name — that such decisions were not selfish, but short-sighted. The UK coach went on “The Dan Patrick Show” the same day as Dickinson’s commitment to Kansas and engaged in a discussion that certainly seemed to be centered on the new Jayhawks center.

“I don’t like to get into that with players,” Calipari said of NIL discussions. “Because you don’t come to Kentucky (for that reason). I call that tripping over nickels to try to get to an NBA max contract.”

Patrick pushed back, saying NIL earnings are now a major factor in players’ thought process, making deep conversations on the subject a recruiting necessity.

“I don’t want to go in and the first thing I talk about is name, image and likeness,” Calipari replied. “That’s not why you come to Kentucky. That isn’t. Yet, you are going to do better (here) than anywhere else you go, but why talk about that?”

Calipari claimed Monday that Dickinson never pushed him terribly hard on NIL, though he reiterated that, while he’s the coach at Kentucky, he doesn’t want that to be the primary motivating factor in any recruitment.

“If it really is important to some guys, then it’s really important,” Calipari said. “But this is what we are and how we do it here. But it never got to that with Hunter. He never came at me with, ‘You gotta do this.’ If he had done that, then I probably would’ve walked. But he never did that. That’s not what he did. I know how good he is. But let’s see how good we are.”

Whether or not NIL was the ultimate sticking point, Dickinson obviously didn’t end up at UK.

The “tripping over nickels” stance doesn’t work as well in Dickinson’s case. He’s a star in college, yes, but NBA decision-makers don’t seem terribly interested. The current direction of the league doesn’t really fit his style of play, evidenced by his continued presence in college. He’s not mentioned at all on ESPN’s latest list of the top 100 prospects for the 2024 draft, despite his proven ability at the NCAA level, and it’s fair to project that his earnings this season could surpass anything he makes in a year of American basketball as a professional player.

On Calipari’s side, the narrative of Dickinson’s recruitment seemed to sum up everything the 64-year-old coach dislikes about the transfer portal at large: players looking for immediate guarantees — whether they be on the court or off — over longer-term goals. Dickinson told ESPN later in the summer that Kansas wasn’t the “highest bidder” in his recruitment, which also included visits to Georgetown, Maryland and Villanova and additional inquiries from several other schools. He called his transfer choice a “basketball decision” in that interview.

Dickinson’s brash personality also rubbed some fans the wrong way, a feeling that obviously exploded into disdain following his commitment to Kansas. He’s as candid as it gets, and his boldness clearly doesn’t land well with those on the other side of the ball. A recent example: his response at Big 12 media day to KU being ranked No. 1 in the preseason AP Top 25 poll.

“I like it,” he said. “I like people knowing it because I want them to know we’re better than them.”

That same day, Self heaped praise on his new recruit, calling him a “great teammate” and someone the returning Jayhawks accepted immediately.

“He’s loved by his brothers in the locker room,” Self said. “He is, I would say, the most skilled and most talented offensive player that I’ve had from a center type standpoint offensively. … From a shooting, aggressiveness, passing, playing out of double (teams) — he probably is as advanced as anybody I’ve ever been around, and he is without question the most equipped to have a big year for a first-year player.”

One team’s hero is another’s villain, and Dickinson certainly emerged as the latter for many who will be rooting for Kentucky when the two sides meet at the Champions Classic in Chicago on Tuesday night.

Dickinson didn’t join the Wildcats, so now they have to figure out how to beat him. With UK’s three 7-footers — Bradshaw, Onyenso and Zvonimir Ivisic — all expected to remain sidelined Tuesday night, that job will fall largely to 6-9 forward Tre Mitchell, though he’s going to need some help.

Kentucky vs. Hunter Dickinson

This Kentucky team would have looked a lot different had Dickinson joined in the offseason. Whether or not Mitchell would have still come aboard a couple months later, Dickinson would’ve been the team’s starting 5, and that would have greatly changed the way these Wildcats play.

While the Kansas star can certainly stretch the floor — Dickinson hit 45 3-pointers at a 37.2% rate over the past two years and is 4-for-4 from deep this season — the 7-2, 260-pounder is much closer to a traditional center than Mitchell, who has been playing quite a bit on the perimeter and is often the quarterback of Kentucky’s offense, the ball flowing through him.

It makes for a fun style, but there will also be challenges when the Cats face teams with bigger 5s, like Dickinson.

Mitchell has met such talk head on so far, explaining that, in basketball, there’s often an advantage to be found on the other side of a seeming disadvantage. Not that it was too difficult to figure out, but Mitchell admitted that Calipari’s self-described “tweak” in the 86-46 victory over New Mexico State last week was to play more through him offensively in the second half, with Mitchell heading out to the perimeter and pulling the Aggies’ bigger, slower 5 with him. His passing ability and decision-making, coupled with the electric playmakers around him in Kentucky’s lineup, proved to be a winning combination.

“My ability to see the game, and being familiar with the guys I’m playing with now — knowing their spots, knowing where they could take advantage — and then taking advantage of a big 5 that was a little bit slower and making him make multiple decisions in one possession, one after another,” Mitchell explained.

It sounds like he’s hoping to do more of the same against Dickinson.

“Just the usual approach,” Mitchell said of facing the KU star. “Scout him. See the opportunities that are out there. I’ll probably pull him away from the hoop a lot. Get him involved in a lot of pick and rolls and make him make decisions, and kind of go from there. I’m not somebody that is afraid of a name. The only man I fear is God. So I’m going to go out there and give you what I got against him. And it’s not going to be easy for him. I’m going to make him have to earn everything he gets.”

For as good as Dickinson can be, his defense — especially away from the basket — can be a detriment. Self said as much in that otherwise glowing assessment on Big 12 media day.

“There’s a lot of things he’s got to get a lot better at defensively,” Self said. “Guarding ball screens and protecting the rim or the paint and a lot of other things. He’s got to become much better to become whole.”

Rebounding will also be a concern for Kentucky, which beat Texas A&M-Commerce just 36-33 on the boards Friday night. That team had been obliterated in the category by its two previous opponents — Texas A&M and Texas Tech — and Kansas had a plus-13.5 rebounding margin in its first two games.

UK senior guard Antonio Reeves had six rebounds Friday night, tied for his highest total as a Wildcat. He knows it’s all hands on deck until the team’s 7-footers can get on the court.

“Everybody has to focus on it,” Reeves said. “We’re undersized. We don’t have our big men yet. … Our guards gotta have at least five or six rebounds a game. And I feel like, going into the next game, we definitely have to do the same thing. Box out their bigs as much as possible.”

That’s easier said than done, as Reeves knows well. He hesitated when asked about the size discrepancy between UK and Kansas, then acknowledged the reality.

“There’s nothing we can really do about it,” he said. “They have some good talented big men that’s on their team, and we’re just going to have to figure out how we’re going to play them.”

Mitchell’s top objective: boxing out Dickinson — or whoever the biggest Jayhawk on the court happens to be — even if it takes him out of contention for the board. A repeat viewing of UK’s earlier games will show instances of the undersized center putting a body on the opponent’s beefiest player when the ball goes up, hoping to clear the way for an athletic teammate to fly in and up for the rebound.

“I’m going to do my best to get them out of the way, so that means somebody else is going to have to go get it sometimes,” Mitchell said. “I know that we have the pieces to rebound, guards included. We have some big guards that aren’t afraid to get in there. … As long as their biggest dude ain’t getting it, I’m happy.”

The Wildcats don’t often go into a game in such an underdog position as they’ll be in Tuesday night. Kansas is the No. 1 team in the country. Dickinson is a preseason All-American. When they step onto the court in the Champions Classic, all that has to be forgotten.

“For us, it’s a matter of not getting caught up in the names and things,” Mitchell said. “It’s kind of ironic, because we play for Kentucky. … But it’s just a matter of us going out there and playing our game, because when we’re at our best, I don’t think there’s many people that’s going to be able to get in our way.”

Next game

No. 17 Kentucky vs. No. 1 Kansas

What: Champions Classic

When: About 9:30 p.m. EST on Tuesday

Where: United Center in Chicago

TV: ESPN

Radio: WLAP-AM 630, WBUL-FM 98.1, WLXG-AM 1300, WLXG-FM 92.5

Records: Kentucky 2-0, Kansas 2-0

Series: Kentucky leads 24-11

Last meeting: Kansas defeated Kentucky 77-68 in the SEC/Big 12 Challenge on Jan. 28, 2023, in Lexington

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