ARS Rescue Rooter Hoopfest Dallas: Five-star Hunter Dickinson shines

WAXAHACHIE, Texas -- Five-star junior Hunter Dickinson is throwback big man capable of putting a team on his shoulders.

For a while, the space eating seven-footer did just that while scoring 18 points and grabbing 16 rebounds to help Hyattsville (Md.) DeMatha to a come from behind win over a very good Denton (Texas) Guyer team at the ARS Rescue Rooter National Hoopfest.

In today's game, you just don't see many true back to the basket bigs like Dickinson and he's confident that there's always room for a big and tough bucket getter in the low post.

"I think there's always going to be, especially now that there's not any, need for a back to the basket big who can dominate on the block.," Dickinson told Rivals.com. "I think I'm more versatile, I can shoot the three and play more facing up on offense. But, my team needs me to be a dominant player on the block because we have good players on the wings and I'm playing my role on the team so we can win.

"Defensively, in screens I want to get to where I can get switched onto guards and stay in front of them for a few seconds."

Dickinson has landed offers from the likes of Boston College, Florida State, Iowa, Maryland, Notre Dame, Oregon, Pittsburgh, Purdue, Virginia and many others to go with attention from programs like Kansas, Kentucky and North Carolina. He discussed official visits to Notre Dame and Purdue along with unofficial stops at Maryland and Pitt.

Maryland: "They keep saying stay home, stay home, stay home. It's like two miles away from DeMatha so it's easy to go there and catch games. If I were to go there I wouldn't have to go far and staying home could be cool."

Notre Dame: "It was a lot of fun. That was my second time there, I went unofficially two years ago. It was mostly for my parents because they had never seen the school and stuff. They really enjoyed it. Their pitch to me, from Coach (Mike) Brey and Coach (Rod) Balanis, is that they are two DeMatha grads who are really going to have to look out for me because its a brotherhood and if you are a DeMatha grad, every DeMatha student is like somebody that they have to do right by. D.J. Harvey is there and I know that I'm not going into a new situation."

Pittsburgh: "I was really impressed with Pitt. Coach (Jeff) Capel is really turning it around and using what he got from Duke. He's really revamping Pitt Basketball and I also have an ex teammate up there, Xavier Johnson, who I'm really close with and that's also a good thing.

Purdue: "It stands out a lot that they play through the big guys. They aren't just saying it, they've really proven that they play through the bigs and that they will develop their bigs. I really liked the visit there. Coach (Matt) Painter is a really great coach and he's got a good track record of dealing with the bigs. Look at Isaac Haas, Caleb Swanigan and guys like that, where they started and where they finished is really interesting. I thought the campus was really nice, better than I thought it would be. It's not just in the middle of nowhere and there's lots of stuff to do."

If you are a program that is truly committed to letting your big man set up and then playing through him on the low block, Dickinson is your guy. He's not just big, he's got great hands, good touch around the rim and a very good overall feel for the game.

Now locked in on his junior season, Dickinson said that among the schools he's eying for potential official visits are Oregon and Florida State. He also mentioned Kentucky and North Carolina as places he might try to take unofficial trips to. However, don't take the visits as a sign that he's ready to commit, he's just gathering as much information as possible.

"I'm just trying to use visits now because I want to see as much as I can and form a really good opinion," said Dickinson. "Getting all the information I can on schools is important so that I can really make a great decision."