Booing Hunter Dickinson? Kansas Basketball Fans Need to be Better

Last night, Kansas basketball hosted its 41st annual Late Night in the Phog event in Allen Fieldhouse. The event received mixed reviews from the KU fanbase, but that's a conversation for another time.

Something that particularly stood out during the beginning of Late Night was when former KU alums in the NBA were shown on the Jumbotron.

Jayhawk fans honored former players such as Jalen Wilson and Gradey Dick, but when the camera panned to Hunter Dickinson, the rookie center for the New Orleans Pelicans received a rain of boos from the Jayhawk faithful.

Some big cheers for Gradey Dick, Jalen Wilson, Johnny Furphy, and Kevin McCullar, when their highlights were shown....

While Hunter Dickinson got booed. #kubball
— Shreyas Laddha (@shre98) October 18, 2025

There is no video evidence of the booing, but several KU sources confirmed that people in the venue — students in particular — did not give Dickinson a warm welcome in his return to Lawrence. This is unprecedented for KU and college sports in general.

Never seen anything like it... They're doing the Late Night NBA roll call on the video board right now and when the showed Hunter Dickinson with the Pelicans, there was a loud "Boooo" from the #KUbball student section. Crazy, man.
— Matt Tait (@mctait) October 18, 2025

Kansas On SI's Take

When I first read about this, I was in utter shock. KU fans need to be better than this.

No matter what you thought about Dickinson as a player, he never did anything to disparage the university or talk down on his team. He had nothing but praise for the program and prided himself on being a Jayhawk.

His face will forever by synonymous with the back-to-back Kansas teams that failed to meet expectations as the preseason No. 1, but the fact of the matter is that he was not the sole reason why the Jayhawks struggled over the past two seasons.

Lack of development from returning players played a major factor in KU's struggles, as well as missed transfer portal additions that never panned out.

Dickinson made it to an Elite Eight during his freshman year at Michigan and has shown he can win with teams before with the right supporting cast.

For KU fans to pin all of the team's troubles on a constant double-double threat who was an All-American is absurd and a terrible look, regardless of his limitations on the defensive end.

Sure, many fans argue that student-athletes should be susceptible to pro-level athlete criticism since they now receive similar benefits in NIL funding.

But while Dickinson and other NCAA athletes are still subject to comments about their on-court play, there is no room to boo a former player in an off-the-court scenario, especially when he is taking time out of his day to make an appearance at Late Night and support the school.

Fans who booed Dickinson should take a step back and remember that college sports are built on brotherhood and loyalty, not hostility, and treating a former Jayhawk that way is completely unacceptable.