KU seniors McCullar, Dickinson ‘kicking it, having fun,’ during summer school session

Kevin McCullar recently asked a group of media members gathered at Brett Ballard’s Washburn University basketball camp if they’d rather interview KU seniors McCullar and Hunter Dickinson separately or as a duo.

McCullar and Dickinson — two of the elder statesmen on the Kansas Jayhawks’ 2023-24 hoops team who were working as camp counselors for 200 or so youths in WU’s Lee Arena — had been basically inseparable the past couple of weeks during KU’s 2023 summer school session.

They would be comfortable sharing insights alone or as one of the top guard/forward tandems in the entire Big 12 Conference.

“It’s been great spending some time with him,” McCullar, a 6-foot-6, 210-pound super senior guard said of Dickinson, a 7-2, 260-pound senior forward who has two years of eligibility remaining following his transfer from Michigan. McCullar is down to his final year of eligibility.

“He’s a great guy. He wants to win and that’s why he came to Kansas, to win big games,” McCullar added of Dickinson, who smiled while waiting his turn to be interviewed.

McCullar asked to lead things off as a solo act.

“We’ve been kicking it, having fun,” McCullar said. “Doing little things like this together (working camps with Dickinson) is super-cool.”

McCullar, in practices and pickup games, likes what he’s seen in Dickinson, an Alexandria, Virginia native who averaged 18.5 points (on 56.0% shooting; 42.1% from three-point range), 9.0 rebounds and 1.5 assists during his junior year at Michigan.

He announced plans to transfer to KU on May 4.

“He does everything well. He’s not just going to be a big guy who is going to be on the post. He can step out and shoot it,” McCullar said. “It’s not just about his scoring ability. The way he rebounds the ball and the way he sees guys on the offensive end passing … it is pretty nice.”

Perimeter player McCullar, who transferred to KU from Texas Tech after playing three seasons for the Red Raiders, was pleased to welcome not only Dickinson but two additional bigs to the team recently.

Zach Clemence, a 6-10 junior forward, who initially decided to leave KU for Santa Barbara after two seasons in Lawrence, has returned to the Jayhawks and will practice but not play in games as a redshirt this season. Former Santa Clara forward Parker Braun, the 6-10 senior brother of former KU guard Christian Braun, is a Jayhawk now, too, after transferring this offseason.

“It’s huge,” McCullar said of the return of Clemence, who averaged 1.4 points and 1.3 rebounds in limited duty during his sophomore season. “Zach has been in the program. He’s played in big games before. He’s a great addition to our team.”

Of Braun, who averaged 6.9 points (on 56.1% shooting; 34.2% from three-point range), 5.3 rebounds and 1.6 assists per game last season at Santa Clara, McCullar said: “He’s athletic. You can throw the ball to him, he’ll catch it. He does all the little things. We’re going to need that.”

McCullar is one of just four returning players from last year’s Big 12 title team that was eliminated by Arkansas in a second-round NCAA Tournament contest in Des Moines, Iowa. They other three are returning starters Dajuan Harris and KJ Adams plus Clemence. KU has added seven new scholarship players (Dickinson, Braun, Marcus Adams, Elmarko Jackson, Jamari McDowell, Arterio Morris, Nick Timberlake) who are all top-notch players and individuals, according to McCullar.

“It’s been great,” McCullar said of bonding with not just Dickinson but other new teammates in summer school drills, which will continue four hours per week through the end of the summer session on July 28.

KU will be able to hold 10 additional multi-hour practices in July advance of its early-August trip to Puerto Rico, where the squad will play three exhibition games.

“I kind of feel it’s the first day you meet them,” McCullar said of learning a teammate’s personality. “You kind of see people’s vibes and how they are and what they are really all about.

“It’s going to be a transition of course, just like with every freshman coming into the college game,” McCullar added of Jackson, McDowell and Adams being totally comfortable. “They are already showing so many flashes in practice already.”

KU also has added three new walk-ons in junior forward Justin Cross, redshirt freshman guard Christopher Carter and senior guard Patrick Cassidy. A team manager the last three years, Cassidy has switched roles to player.

“Dajuan, KJ they will have to be leaders as well (as McCullar and Dickinson),” McCullar said.

Of floor general Harris, McCullar said: “He’s been in the program and played in the biggest games, won a national championship. He knows what it takes. Him being the point guard on the floor, we’re going to listen to him, have him get us in the right spots and give us the ball.

“We have every piece that we need this year,” McCullar added. “It’s about us buying in and me being a leader and being one of the guys on the team that’s going to have to go and do it.”

McCullar is coming off a season in which he averaged 10.7 points (on 44.4% shooting) and 7.0 rebounds and often guarded the opponent’s top scorer.

“Coach (Bill Self) on the defensive end … he trusts me to go make plays. That’s what he tells me I need to do out there. That gives me the freedom to go do what I do and use my instincts,” said McCullar who had 68 steals in 34 games a year ago.

“I feel I can use my defensive IQ. Coming back (for a final season at KU) is going to be huge. We can definitely throw some lineups out there that should make us hard for other teams to score on.”

McCullar said he’s most excited “about trying to go win a national championship.

“I’m locked in from the jump,” he said, “so its going to be a blast as well. We won’t really know until we get battle tested, until we go through some adversity as a group ... (In dealing with adversity) you see what guys are going to be together; from there the rest will be history.”

He thinks he and his new friend/teammate, Dickinson, will be close throughout the 2023-24 campaign.

“A lot of it (team camaraderie) is centered around food,” Dickinson said within earshot of McCullar.

Yes, the two did their interviews separately at the Ballard camp.

“Some of us don’t have cars so we’ll get a carpool (to go out and dine as a team),” Dickinson said. “Me, Kevin, Nick (Timberlake) have done a lot of hanging out in (apartment) living rooms. We all are pretty new.

“I have never played with or spoken with anybody on this team. It feels like we are all really close in a short period of time. I think that’s super unique for a scenario like this in which a lot of guys don’t really know each other. Everybody’s done a good job opening up, kind of getting to know their teammates’ personalities. I feel we are already a pretty close group — a trip like Puerto Rico will make us closer.”