Hunter Dickinson 'not sure yet' on making transfer decision
Many were hoping that Michigan transfer Hunter Dickinson would announce his transfer decision on Tuesday. He joined the Barstool Roundball Podcast on Tuesday afternoon, but a decision did not come. Dickinson said that he is “not sure yet” on deciding where to play college basketball next season.
Shortly after revealing this update, Dickinson admitted that he told teams that he hoped to know today what his transfer decision would be, although he said that he didn’t clarify that he would announce that yet. While he still has not come to a decision, he hopes to figure it out “sooner rather than later.”
Dickinson has been very coveted in the portal. He is the top-rated player to enter the transfer portal during this cycle after entering on March 31.
Quite a few teams have been after Dickinson since his name appeared in the transfer portal. Kentucky, Kansas, Maryland, Villanova and others have been involved in his recruitment in the portal.
Dickinson averaged 14.1 points and 7.4 rebounds per game as a true freshman. He followed that up the next two years by averaging over 18 points per game and over eight rebounds per game in each of the next two seasons. The former Michigan star ended his three years in Ann Arbor by averaging 17.2 points and 8.4 rebounds per game. His play on the floor earned him All-Big Ten honors every year, including two First Team selections, the Big Ten Freshman of the Year honor and a consensus Second Team All-American in 2021.
Transfer portal background information
The NCAA Transfer Portal, which covers every NCAA sport at the Division I, II and III levels, is a private database with names of student-athletes who wish to transfer. It is not accessible to the public.
The process of entering the portal is done through a school’s compliance office. Once a player provides written notification of an intent to transfer, the office enters the player’s name in the database and everything is off and running. The compliance office has 48 hours to comply with the player’s request and that request cannot be refused.
Once a player’s name shows up in the portal, other schools can contact the player. Players can change their minds at any point and withdraw from the portal. However, once a player enters the portal, the current scholarship no longer has to be honored. In other words, if a player enters the portal but decides to stay, the school is not obligated to provide a scholarship anymore.
The database is a normal database, sortable by a variety of topics, including (of course) sport and name. A player’s individual entry includes basic details such as contact info, whether the player was on scholarship and whether the player is transferring as a graduate student.
A player can ask that a “do not contact” tag be placed on the report. In those instances, the players don’t want to be contacted by schools unless they’ve initiated the communication.
The portal has been around since Oct. 15, 2018 and the new calendar cycle within the portal begins each August. For example, the 2021-22 cycle started Aug. 1. During the 2020-21 cycle, 2,626 FBS football players entered the transfer portal (including walk-ons). That comes after 1,681 entered during the 2019-20 cycle and 1,709 during the abbreviated 2018-19 cycle. In comparison, 1,833 Division I basketball players entered the portal during the 2020-21 cycle after totals of 1,020 in 2019-20 and 1,063 in 2018-19.