Michigan Basketball: Reacting to transfer of Hunter Dickinson

Michigan basketball standout Hunter Dickinson has entered the transfer portal and here are some thoughts for the Wolverines.

There was always going to be a 50/50 chance that Hunter Dickinson returned to Michigan basketball for the 2023-24 season and the news of the former All-American heading to the portal shouldn’t come as a huge shock.

Over the past two seasons, Michigan basketball has lost a combined 31 games. Dickinson was a spectacular scorer but the Wolverines weren’t ready to win a national championship and with Jett Howard, as well as Kobe Bufkin likely to leave, it makes it more understandable.

It’s disappointing in the sense that you can reload quickly in college basketball. With Dickinson, the Wolverines could have been a viable contender in the Big Ten. Now, we’ll have to wait and see what the next move is for Juwan Howard.

At the same time, Dickinson will have a conflicted resume. He was a tremendous scorer and helped the Wolverines reach the Sweet 16 twice, as well as winning a Big Ten championship.

Dickinson also didn’t play well in losses in the 2021 and 2022 NCAA tournaments to UCLA and Villanova. His defense was also an issue and one of the big reasons why Michigan basketball was a really poor defensive team over the past two seasons.

Dickinson was a huge liability in the ball-screen game and teams continually took advantage of it over the years. It often led to open looks for guards or the big setting the screen.

What’s next for Michigan basketball?

The news makes you think Michigan basketball had an inkling since the Wolverines have made contact with a few bigs, such as John Hugley formerly of Pittsburgh.

Tarris Reed is ready to take over as the starting center. He’s not the low-post scorer that Dickinson is and the Wolverines will need to find someone who can score on the block. Michigan also needs to find a new go-to guy.

It’s not going to be Dickinson and unless the Wolverines put together a huge NIL deal, it’s not going to be Kobe Bufkin either. An NIL deal might not even be enough if Bufkin is projected as a first-round pick in the NBA draft.

Michigan has work to do. There’s no doubt about it but it’s not like this was a top-10 team over the past two seasons. It didn’t seriously contend for the Big Ten championship in the past two years and change is needed.

Change isn’t easy, but Michigan wil need to find another way to win and call me crazy, I don’t think the loss of Dickinson is the death knell of the 2023-24 season. There is a lot of time to build the roster, yet we do know that the Wolverines will be different.

Dickinson’s departure makes sure of that.