Kansas senior center Hunter Dickinson and junior guard AJ Storr are two of six players on ESPN commentator Dick Vitale’s list of national player of the year candidates in college basketball.
Vitale’s “prime time players” entering the 2024-25 season: Dickinson and Storr, plus Cooper Flagg, Duke; RJ Davis, North Carolina; Mark Sears, Alabama and L.J. Cryer, Houston.
“The race is wide open!” Vitale wrote on ESPN.com, indicating Purdue’s Zach Edey, who is now in the NBA, was the runaway preseason and postseason player of the year in 2023-24.
KU was well represented on Vitale’s preseason awards list.
KU senior guard Dajuan Harris and Storr were included on the list of top “floor generals” with Alabama’s Sears, Chris Youngblood and Latrell Wrightsell; UNC’s Davis, Elliot Cadeau and Ian Jackson; Purdue’s Braden Smith and Fletcher Loyer; Gonzaga’s Ryan Nembhard, Khalif Battle and Nolan Hikman and Houston’s Cryer, Emanuel Sharp and Milos Uzan.
Dickinson, senior KJ Adams and junior Rylan Griffen of KU were included on Vitale’s “low post enforcers” list with Duke’s Flagg, Khaman Maluach and Maliq Brown; Indiana’s Oumar Ballo, Mackenzie Mgbako and Malik Reneau; Alabama’s Clifford Omoruyi and Grant Nelson; UConn’s Alex Karaban, Samson Johnson and Liam McNeeley and Creighton’s Ryan Kalkbrenner, Mason Miller and Jamiya Neal.
KU’s Storr was the only Jayhawk on Vitale’s list of “impact transfers” with Alabama’s Omoruy, Arkansas’ Johnell Davis, St. John’s Kadary Richmond, Indiana’s Ballo and Baylor’s Norchad Omier.
KU’s Bill Self made Vitale’s “Frank Lloyd Wright team” which is made up of coaches who have best “managed their rosters through the NIL maze” and are “looking for the golden ring in 2025.” Others: Dan Hurley, who is trying for a third straight NCAA title with UConn; Mark Few, Gonzaga; Nate Oats, Alabama; Kelvin Sampson, Houston and Matt Painter, Purdue.
Vitale on July 11 named KU one of his projected Sweet 16 teams. Of the Jayhawks, he wrote: “The addition of perimeter shooting should help in an area that was lacking last season.”
