Kansas center Hunter Dickinson and Kansas forward KJ Adams file off of the team bus upon the Jayhawks’ arrival at the team hotel in Providence, R.I., on Tuesday, March 18, 2025. Photo by Nick Krug

Providence, R.I. — Kansas fifth-year center Hunter Dickinson was named a third-team All-American by the Associated Press, the organization announced on Tuesday.

“I think it’s great,” KU coach Bill Self said upon the Jayhawks’ arrival in Providence on Tuesday evening. “You know, he’s had a really solid year. It probably hasn’t been the year that potentially he could have, in large part because our team hasn’t had the year that potentially we could have.”

The native of Alexandria, Virginia, is averaging 17.6 points and 10.0 rebounds per game, numbers that place him fourth and second in the Big 12 Conference, respectively, and just a hair below the 17.9 and 10.9 he averaged during the 2023-24 season.

The All-American honor is the third such recognition of Dickinson’s career after the AP named him to its second team both in 2021, when he was at Michigan, and in 2024, after his first season at KU.

“That’s a pretty good college career,” Self said.

Dickinson was inconsistent in a pair of Big 12 tournament games, but had played some of his best basketball as a Jayhawk down the stretch of the regular season, including 32 points on 13-for-18 shooting at Colorado and 33 more on 15-for-23 shooting on senior night against Arizona, both totals that reset his top scoring mark at KU.

Both games resulted in narrow victories for the Jayhawks, and Self has spoken about his desire for Dickinson to “put a team on (his) back and carry us over an extended period of time.”

The 7-foot-2 center will have the chance to do just that on the biggest of stages beginning on Thursday when KU takes on Arkansas in its first-round NCAA Tournament matchup at Amica Mutual Pavilion.

Dickinson said on Sunday that he’s learned to treasure each March Madness appearance because Michigan missed the tournament once during his time there.

“Also I think it’s just being really conscientious of trying to give it your all,” Dickinson said. “As a team, I think we’re all ready. I think we know that our backs are kind of against the wall and that we don’t have any margin for error anymore, that any mistakes we make could be the end of our season, so it’ll be interesting to see how we respond.”