Is Virginia becoming a player in the Hunter Dickinson sweepstakes? Maybe

I’m going to suggest, without saying how I know this, that Virginia may actually be a player in the Hunter Dickinson sweepstakes.

Yeah, yeah, I’m saying this now after my deep analysis from last week suggesting that notion to be folly.

Something came to my attention today that has me backtracking there.

Dickinson, you are well aware, if you’re a Virginia basketball fan, is the 7’1” center who played most recently at Michigan, where he averaged 18.5 points and 9.0 rebounds a game last year, and shot 56.0 percent from the field.

When I addressed Virginia last week as a possible landing spot for Dickinson, a Northern Virginia native who would have two years of eligibility remaining, my analysis on how the school would not be a player was based on my assumption that Dickinson is contemplating a move from Michigan because he wants to maximize what he can get in terms of dollars from NIL.

I estimated somewhere in the range of $500,000+ annually, based on what I’d expect he’d expect to be able to command in terms of salary in Europe, which is almost certainly where his career will continue after college.

The folks at On3.com are more conservative with what they think it would take, pegging Dickinson’s NIL value at $282,000.

That’s still a pretty penny, and you’d have to assume that he put his name into the transfer portal because he doesn’t feel he could get money at either level by remaining at Michigan.

Note that I’m not suggesting that I know anything about what NIL offer may or may not be on the table from Virginia, or that I’m even aware that there has been anything discussed of that nature.

Dickinson may have just wanted a change of scenery after three years at Michigan, which is going through some roster changes this offseason, with Jett Howard and Kobe Bufkin declaring for the NBA Draft being two of the most notable changes.

Virginia, for its part, and to its credit, is trying to up its NIL game, as we know from an announcement last month that Virginia Athletics has finally signed on Cav Futures as its official NIL collective.

Dickinson, if he were to end up a UVA student this summer, would be a high-profile get for Tony Bennett, and a high-value piece for Cav Futures to build a marketing base around.

This one would be a win-win, were it to happen.

I’m not saying it’s going to happen.

Just that, based on what I’m hearing, there may be something there.