Michigan's Hunter Dickinson eyes the basket during an NCAA college basketball game against Illinois Thursday, March 2, 2023, in Champaign, Ill. (AP Photo/Charles Rex Arbogast)

UPDATE: 12:15 P.M.

Hunter Dickinson has been the hunted for weeks.

Coaches and fans of blue blood basketball programs — and many who want to be — stayed on the 7-foot-1 center’s trail the entire offseason.

And what a trail it was.

Tuning into a previously obscure podcast that Dickinson co-hosted became routine — to see if the Michigan transfer would provide any clue about his landing spot. Reading seemingly endless blog posts full of rumors became maddening, trying to pick up the scent of any direction Dickinson might be moving.

In the end, none of the trails mattered — just the road that led to Kansas.

Dickinson on Thursday posted a video online showing him walking into a hotel meeting room where Kansas head coach Bill Self awaited.

“I just wanted to tell you I’m going to come play with you next year at Kansas,” Dickinson said after a brief hello.

Before he could even finish the sentence, Self raised both hands in the air for a dual high-five and a hug.

“You know what, I was hoping it was going to be good news,” Self said.

Kansas fans are hoping it is season-changing news. Dickinson was the most sought-after player in the basketball transfer portal, in part, because of a stat line that featured averages of 18.5 points per game, 9 rebounds per game and 1.8 blocked shots per game last season for Michigan.

Self has said repeatedly that KU had several needs to fill through the transfer portal, but a big-time post presence was high on the list. With Dickinson on the roster, next season may well produce a different — but familiar — style of play for the Jayhawks.

In becoming a two-time National Champion at KU, Self has built a reputation as a coach that prefers to pound the ball inside if he has the players to do it. In more recent seasons, a perimeter game has become more of an emphasis, as KU played much of last season with 6-foot-7 K.J. Adams as its top big man.

But Dickinson, who comes with experience in a bruising style of basketball played in the Big Ten Conference, might be just the guy to take Kansas back to the future, so to speak.

While it is unknown exactly what pushed Dickinson to KU over a host of suitors, a stat about KU’s history of big man basketball has circulated online. Self’s offense in the 2020-21 season pounded the ball into big man David McCormack at a rate of 8.71 post-up possessions per game, according to statistics compiled by national basketball writers Kevin Flaherty and Isaac Trotter at 247 Sports. That’s a slightly higher rate than Dickinson got the ball last season at Michigan, but a much higher rate than Kentucky — one of KU’s top competitors for Dickinson — got the ball to its star big man Oscar Tshiebwe, who got only 5.5 post up possessions per game.

Surely, watching how much Self pounds the ball inside will be one of the prime storylines of KU’s upcoming season.

KU, though, also has new firepower on the perimeter that should give the Jayhawks a good chance of being multi-dimensional. KU used the transfer portal to add 6-foot-4 combo guard Nick Timberlake, who averaged nearly 18 points per game for Towson last season. Importantly, he did so by hitting more than 41% of his shots from three point territory.

KU also added Texas transfer Arterio Morris, who came off the bench for the Longhorns last season but was a top-ranked point guard in the nation in the 2022 recruiting season. The 6-foot-3 Morris, who is considered a top-notch defender, likely won’t be asked to carry any point guard load for KU this season. Instead, he may share time on the court with KU point guard and team leader Dajuan Harris, Jr., and will compete for time with Elmarko Jackson, a McDonalds All-American and top 25 ESPN recruit who is set to begin his freshman season at KU.

What Morris will bring to the table from deep distance is still an open question. He made three-pointers at a 33% clip for Texas, hitting 29 out of 87 for the Longhorns. But Self may have other roles in mind for Morris. Last month, Self talked about what he was seeking from the transfer portal, and the three players he’s landed seem to fit well with his goals.

“We need to sign at least three, possibly four, that are difference-maker type players for us,” Self said of the Jayhawks’ transfer portal needs.

More specifically, Self said he had a good idea of the roles those players need to fill.

“So, we need length. We need standing height. Two of the three (portal additions) need to be shooters. We need an explosive guy that can get it off the bounce and create for others. “We are looking at those specific things in the portal that maybe you don’t look at quite specifically a year out when you are looking at just getting the best player. Now we want the best player that fits this specific need.”

Morris may be the explosive player who can create opportunities for others, Timberlake is a shooter, and Dickinson is too, although not necessarily from beyond the arc. But Dickinson brings a ton of offensive hardware with him to Lawrence.

He was the Big Ten Rookie of the Year in the 2020-2021 season, and was a second team All-American that season when Michigan won the Big Ten championship, and entered the NCAA tournament as a No. 1 seed before losing in the Elite Eight. Last season, Dickinson earned first team All-Big Ten honors, and became more dynamic as a shooter, hitting 42.1% of his three-point shots on 57 attempts.

And all of that was at a school where basketball often gets overshadowed by football, something that Dickinson definitely noticed. In recent weeks, Dickinson talked about how he definitely noticed a different feel as he toured the blue blood basketball programs of KU and Kentucky, for example.

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

KU might not be done adding new players for next year’s squad. The Jayhawks are in the running for Mackenzie Mgbako, a 6-foot-8 forward from New Jersey who once was a top signee for Duke but recently got released from his letter of intent.

Mgbako, a strong shooting prospect, reportedly has visited KU, while also having St. Johns, Indiana and Louisville on his list of potential landing spots.