Hunter Dickinson announces transfer destination: No, it’s not Virginia

Virginia basketball fans let themselves dream, briefly, of having a chance at landing 7’1” Michigan center Hunter Dickinson, but, yeah.

Dickinson his transfer destination today, picking Kansas from among his finalists, which included, Kentucky, Maryland and Villanova.

No Virginia in there, obviously, and no Michigan, either.

“I’ve grown and learned so much in my 3 years at Michigan, and if I could do it all over again out of high school there is no doubt in my mind I would make the same choice. That being said, it’s time for me to move on,” Dickinson wrote in a message on Twitter late Wednesday night.

That’s a huge loss for Michigan basketball.

Dickinson averaged 18.5 points and 9.0 rebounds per game for Michigan last season, shooting 56.0 percent from the floor and 42.1 percent from three-point range.

In Virginia’s 70-68 win at Michigan last November, Dickinson torched the Cavaliers with 23 points (on 9-of-16 shooting, seven rebounds and five blocks.

A source told me last month that Dickinson, a Northern Virginia native, made a brief visit to Charlottesville, but the issue for Virginia, and really for all the players, in the Dickinson sweepstakes would come down to money.

Dickinson’s NIL value, according to On3.com, is pegged at $280,000, and I think it’s safe to assume that the rising senior would be looking for more in the $500,000+ range, considering his potential for earnings as an NBA two-way guy or what he’d expect to get to play with a top-tier club in Europe.

UVA isn’t in the guaranteed NIL money business, and neither is Kentucky, according to Matt Jones with Kentucky Sports Radio, who reported on Wednesday, ahead of Dickinson’s announcement, that “things aren’t looking great for UK and Hunter Dickinson” because UK’s NIL policy is “look what these other guys have made.”

Virginia had moved on a while ago, landing Merrimack transfer Jordan Minor, a 6’8” power forward who averaged 17.4 points and 9.4 rebounds per game last year, and Oklahoma transfer Jake Groves, a 6’9” forward who averaged 6.8 points per game and shot 38.1 percent from three.