NCAA Basketball: Takeaways from Hunter Dickinson picking Kansas Jayhawks

Does this make Kansas the team to beat?

Many prognosticators are updating their preseason polls and putting Kansas at the #1 spot and they have a very good reason. The Jayhawks already had one of the best point guards in the nation, as Harris is a passing specialist who was Big 12 Defensive Player of the Year last season. Adding Dickinson to an already talented roster pushes the needle significantly in the Jayhawks’ favor for next season.

Consider what we know about next season. The preseason rankings expect the Huskies of Connecticut near the top again with the talent they have coming back, and Zach Edey’s return could have Purdue vying for that top spot again. Programs like Duke, Houston, and Marquette will be near the top of the ranks with all the pieces they have coming back or transferring in, and no one can forget about recent Cinderella Florida Atlantic, who returns virtually everyone from a Final Four run.

All things considered, the addition of Dickinson absolutely puts Kansas over the top, but does it really matter that much? Right now, the Jayhawks project as the best team in the nation and you cannot find a lineup with a point guard and center combination who is both so skilled at their craft. Throw in the rest of the Jayhawks’ pieces and this is the best team in the nation, at least until someone else makes an earth-shattering movement.

Preseason rankings are something fun that doesn’t mean much when the games start being played, but we’re six months away from meaningful basketball taking place. When that does come around, the Jayhawks will take the court with the nation’s best roster and it would not be shocking at all to see them cut down the nets for the second time in three seasons. Dickinson couldn’t even get the Wolverines to the NCAA Tournament this past season, but he’s been in offenses with new-look guards each season. A savvy veteran in Harris runs this offense and they together might run it all the way.