Syracuse basketball has to get visit from Hunter Dickinson to have a shot

According to a top national recruiting analyst, three suitors may be emerging as the possible front-runners for Michigan transfer Hunter Dickinson, and Syracuse basketball isn’t one of them.

At the end of March, media reports said the 7-foot-1 center would enter the NCAA’s transfer portal, and he’s widely regarded as the No. 1 overall transfer out there at this time. The Orange coaching staff conducted a Zoom meeting with Hunter Dickinson this past Wednesday.

However, the speculation among some analysts is that a couple of other teams may be setting themselves up as favorites for him, and they include local squads Maryland and Georgetown, as well as Kansas, a Big 12 Conference heavyweight that captured the 2022 national title.

Numerous reports have said that Dickinson, who hails from Alexandria, Va., is taking unofficial visits to both the Terrapins and the Hoyas this weekend. His high-school coach, Mike Jones, was recently hired as an assistant coach at Maryland.

Syracuse basketball faces an uphill battle to win out for Michigan transfer center Hunter Dickinson.

Eric Bossi, the national basketball director for 247Sports, says that Dickinson has mapped out his first official visit since hitting the transfer portal. He plans to officially visit Kansas late next week, according to Bossi.

On Thursday, On3’s recruiting prediction machine had pegged Maryland and Georgetown as the possible favorites for Dickinson, but the Jayhawks had moved out in front at the time of this writing on Friday evening.

Naturally, all of this buzz and chatter is speculative in nature at this juncture, but Bossi says until other visits are planned, he and his 247Sports colleagues will look at Georgetown, Maryland and Kansas as ahead of other suitors in Dickinson’s recruitment.

Villanova may get a visit from Dickinson, Bossi says. Others that have been floated as potentially vying for Hunter Dickinson include Arkansas, Kentucky, Virginia, Duke and Syracuse basketball.

Orange head coach Adrian Autry and assistant coach Brenden Straughn have deep recruiting ties in the Washington, D.C., market, including as former coaches of the D.C.-based Team Takeover in Nike’s EYBL league, an AAU program where Dickinson is an alumnus.

When Hunter Dickinson was a four-star, top-50 national prospect in the 2020 class, starring for DeMatha Catholic High School in Hyattsville, Md., he held a scholarship offer from the ‘Cuse. And with Syracuse basketball senior center Jesse Edwards in the transfer portal, there will be ample playing time available at that position for the Orange in the upcoming 2023-24 term.

While it was encouraging that the ‘Cuse coaching staff conducted a recent Zoom with Hunter Dickinson, unless Syracuse basketball can land a visit from the talented big man, I don’t envision the Orange having a realistic chance to prevail in Dickinson’s recruitment.