Hunter Dickinson's Michigan Legacy
Hunter certainly had some great moments wearing maize and blue. I can't remember a more important player leaving Ann Arbor prior to his senior season to play for another collegiate team. His long-term Michigan legacy seems to still be in question. I imagine these recent comments will not go over well with the fanbase. His comments are not egregious, but unnecessary in my opinion.
In his most recent public comments, via the ‘Rock Chalk Unplugged’ podcast, Hunter Dickinson made some interesting remarks about the state of Michigan.
“Going down Mass Street, it feels like this town has its own kind of culture and stuff like that,” Hunter Dickinson said. “I’m super excited when students come back and the towns get bustling and stuff like that. But just walking around, the people are super, super welcoming. Super nice. Definitely get those Midwest vibes. I feel like at Michigan, they weren’t as nice. They were nice people but not as nice.”
Additionally, Hunter Dickinson went on to state that Kansas is the true Midwest, unlike Michigan.
“I feel like Michigan is like a fake Midwest,” Hunter Dickinson said. “Kansas is actually like a Midwest town. I loved my time in Michigan, but the people here at Kansas are especially nice.”
This winter, the former All-American Michigan basketball star will be taking the court in a new uniform for the first time during his four-year college basketball career.
so over this clown, glad he’s gone.
I'm not glad he's gone, but he is unnecessarily throwing whatever good will had taken with him into the garbage.
If he has a few shit games, I'd bet that those friendly folks in Kansas might not be quite so amicable.
*When* he has a few shit games.
I might be in the minority here, but I also feel like SE Michigan is fake midwest… which is why I like living here
Except for Ann Arbor, most of SE Michigan feels like that stretch of Jersey between Philly/NYC for me. Not knocking it, but that’s what it always felt like to me when visiting.
Kansas is Plains, not Midwest. Michigan & Ohio are quintessential Midwest.
Additionally, Kansas is a state, not a town.
HD is extremely immature.
To be fair (?) to HD, perhaps he's just assimilated to Lawrence, Kansas, very quickly and completely. As a Kansan who lives outside of Lawrence, I know that residents of that town often seem to forget that the rest of us are here.
As someone who lived in both Topeka and Lawrence, there is a good reason Lawrence residents forget about the rest of Kansas.
Not to people from the South. We see Michigan, Ohio, Illinois as rust belt manufacturing states. Midwest is Kansas, Nebraska, Iowa, etc. Predominately farming/agriculture. We wouldn't refer to any states as plains states.
We refer to the South as that part of the country Midwesterners Sherman, Sheridan, and Grant laid waste to with impunity.
“Come on you Wolverines!”
Historically the Midwest is what constituted the Northwest Territories of the early 1800s. The Plains States were later acquired as part of the Louisiana Purchase.
Freshman year I was in an argument with a kid from Missouri as to if Michigan was Midwest or if Missouri was. The Midwest is officially made up of the Great Lakes States east of the Mississippi and the Great Plains States west of the Mississippi. I personally don't feel like the Great Lakes and Great Plains have a lot in common, but we are probably more alike than either region compared to the South, Southwest, East or West.
I try teaching my kids the old adage "If you don't have anything good to say about someone don't say anything at all." Most people never actually learn to live by that. It is too satisfying to call someone a name or try to get someone to agree with you that your sibling is a jerk. In the end when you say negative things it just makes you look bad. Nothing good comes of it.
"We wouldn't refer to any states as plains states." Not even the Dakotas?
Midwest is awesome.
Egads, now i'm reminded of a really dumb facebook argument (are there any other kind?) where a friend-of-a-friend was arguing that Texas, Arkansas, and Missouri were midwestern states.
I think his argument was predicated on the fact that they're in the middle of the west part of the US if you solely consider physical geography, but also he is from California so probably has a warped picture of the rest of the country and we were at the height of the pandemic so no one was really in their right mind.
I will die on the hill of "Michigan is in the Great Lakes region." It's like the midwest but a little more sophisticated.
Wow - another 9 billion thumbs ups and you'll officially be back from Bolivia! Rooting for you! Go Dennis, go Dennis!!
Ah, the old "What's the Midwest" tussle.
Born in Nebraska, then Missouri, with high school and college in Michigan, and living in half a dozen states since then, longest in Pennsylvania, California, Illinois and New York, I understand both sides of the question.
(FWIW, I see Michigan as Great Lakes but understand why Easterners see it as Midwest, while I'd call my old homes of Nebraska and Missouri as the Midwest.)
In any case, I like Ann Arbor because it's got a lot of what's variously called Midwestern nice place plus the edginess usually attributed to the East—and rare in Kansas.
As a result, I don't take offense at Dickinson's opinion.
The great lakes region is part of the midwest. . . Yes, Nebraska and Missouri are also midwest, i don't understand what is so complicated about this.
Florida and Maine are very different states, but they're both still geographically east coast states.
He's currently at Kansas. Of course he's going to say nice shit about Kansas and make Kansas sound great. And maybe people in Kansas are nicer. It doesn't change how I feel about him at all.
I don't think anyone cares that he's saying nice things about Kansas. It's the unnecessary swipes at Michigan.
FWIW I've lived in Michigan and Kansas. I do think the people in Michigan are a little more "grumpy"
He said Michigan was nice, and he loved his time at Michigan. He didn't exactly bring out the flamethrower, IMO.
As pointed out by the OP, his comments are not egregious, but unnecessary in my opinion.
You fell for the old "toss a token complement before an uninstigated criticism" gambit eh?
I'm a native New Yorker. Nobody is as grumpy as we are. And you know what, asshole? We like it that way, so fuck you!!
And we liked it!
Sounds like he’s just trying to endear himself to Kansas fans.
That said, while a talented player, I certainly will not miss everything else about him - at all.
Regarding his legacy, it won’t be remembered all that much in 5 years IMO. He was a cog on 1 great team, and then was the key piece on teams that got worse each season and then left to play elsewhere. It’s unfortunate because much of the this was beyond his control, but his legacy will be that of just a good player on mostly forgettable teams I think.
At this point you are absolutely right. He is iggy.
Great player, used michigan for what it was worth to him.
Good for him. He will never be the fab 5, cazzie, obviously. Or even lavell Blanchard or Jamal Crawford.
That was his choice. I hope that he achieves everything that he wants in life
Iggy was for sure better
Hunter was better than Iggy lol
I agree with this summary of HD. I feel like he bloomed very quickly in year 1. After that, I feel like McGary in street clothes holding up a sign that said 'win the game' , exhibited more growth than HD in his remaining years at Michigan. Some of that lack of growth is on the staff, but he also doesn't seem like a guy that is really wired to grow his game unless the exact right circumstances are present. Hope he finds it and has success, just not against Michigan, or any other mid-great-wet-lakes state-like region.
He was one of my favorite players in last 20 years, but not since he left. I hope Kansas flails and he gets blamed—only because he acts like a spurned lover when he’s the one who left. If your are going to dump someone, you just look like an actual dick when you keep taking shots at the person you left. We get it, you found someone better for you.
I’d like to believe it motivates the team, but I doubt it based on the players left still being his friend. Maybe they are nice publicly but pissed privately at his leaving—we can hope.
He’s that one friend we all have had at one point who breaks up with his GF/BF, but always brings them up to the new person in their life, and talks about that ex nonstop to friends when drunk.
Wow really? I'm not trying to put HD down, because I frankly don't care he left....but in the past 20 years I can probably name 10 players I liked better than HD.
I bet you say that non-stop about your ex to friends when you're drunk.
I'm very happy that people weren't regularly putting a microphone in front of me when I was 18, 19, or 20 years old. Hell, I'm even happier that no one is doing that now.
He’s 22. When is he going to grow up?
I was retarded until about 28
Judging by your choice of words, you're still basically a 12-year-old, only with less of a future, and probably less hair.
Should probably give him at least until his prefrontal cortex is fully developed
I've said it before, and I'll say it again: the only thing that will break my heart is if the folks in Lawrence get to witness Hunter trying hard enough to bend his knees when he jumps or runs. If he's still mall-walking down the court while saying mildly controversial things, God bless and happy trails.
And yet if Michigan matched the Kansas NIL offer, he would still be at Michigan.
I would like an update on nice Kansas fans once the season starts and after the season is over.
the people in Kan$a$ are $o ni$e........
He likes people that give him money...they're nice
Ai-yi-yi, we're a whiny, anxious fan base. "Please say that you love us best! Pleeeaaaaaase!"
HD had some good years, played hard, and helped us win some games. I think he's handled the transfer process well, and you can either cheer for him at KU (I do) or not. But people need to stop desperately looking for reasons to be offended. Yegads.
I don't think a single person here is whining about Hunter not "loving us best". But there is, I think, some valid irritation at the backhanded swipes. Go ahead and cuddle up to the Jayhawks. They are definitely a supportive and enthusiastic fanbase. But you can do that without saying "...but those Michigan fans..."
Bye!