March Madness 2024: Kansas New Favorite After Star Center Picks Jayhawks

Image © Junfu Han / USA TODAY NETWORK

✍️ Written by :

Ty Bronicel

🗓 Updated :

Aug 23rd 2023

The Kansas Jayhawks took a major step toward winning next April’s NCAA Tournament after former Michigan star center Hunter Dickinson announced he’s chosen to play for KU coach Bill Self in Lawrence, Kansas.

It’s a big deal.

The 7-foot-1 Dickinson, the best player to enter this year’s transfer portal, earned all-Big Ten honors in all three of his seasons with the Wolverines. The lefty averaged 18.5 points and 9.0 rebounds as a junior last year andseriously considered returning to Michigan. He also visited Georgetown, Maryland, Villanova and Kentucky before selecting Kansas.

Dickinson revealed his choice Tuesday on Twitter.

Bettors are loving the move and oddsmakers immediately responded.

Over at FanDuel Sportsbook, one of our favorite gambling sites in the country, which also includes, PointsBet, BetMGM, and more, Kansas has gone from +2500 (April 4) to +1200 (today, May 4). The Jayhawks were +1600 before Dickinson announced his decision – it’s that important.

The Jayhawks, the national champs in 2022, were bounced by Arkansas in the second round of this year’s tournament without Self who missed the game with medical issues.

Dickinson will join two outstanding returning Jayhawks, point guard Dajuan Harris, and forward K.J. Adams.

Plus, Kansas adds a top-10 recruiting class and sharp-shooting Towson transfer Nick Timberlake.

Dickinson sounds ready to play NOW:

"Kansas was really cool. Just going to there and Kentucky, it's just so different than being at Michigan, because at Michigan obviously everything is focused around football,” Dickinson said of his visit on the "Roundball" podcast this week. “But walking by the facilities and stuff, just how much basketball is so dominant there. And it was really just cool to see in the facilities, the dorms. Then talking with Coach Self for a while and meeting the staff, meeting two of the players, it was real cool. And then going to (Allen Fieldhouse). The fieldhouse was crazy. It just looks like it's going to be loud as hell in there."

So now let’s look at the current odds over at FD.