Noah Dickerson Staying at UW

Noah Dickerson announced on Friday night that he will be returning to play basketball at the University of Washington under Coach Hopkins. The sophomore forward averaged 12.5 points and 8.2 rebounds per game last season. He was the team’s leading rebounder by a significant margin and their 3rd leading scorer. Dickerson really came on late once Markelle Fultz went out with an injury, averaging 21 points and 10 rebounds during the last 4 contests.

Dickerson asked for his release following the dismissal of Coach Romar and was said to be contemplating locations for transfer. He is originally from Atlanta so it made sense that he might want to go to a school closer to his family. Dickerson reportedly had interest from several top national programs including Miami, Virginia, and Duke. He spent time two weekends ago with Tony Bennett at Virginia but ultimately decided to stay in Seattle under Coach Hopkins.

This is the 2nd great piece of news this week for the program after incoming freshman Jaylen Nowell decided to keep his letter of intent. Dickerson’s decision though increases the ceiling of next season’s team substantially. The only other big men on the roster (pending any late additions to the recruiting class) are Sam Timmins and Devenir Duruisseau. Neither have proven they can excel consistently at the Pac-12 level and had Dickerson decided to transfer it likely would’ve required UW to try to play small with a 4 guard lineup at all times much like ASU did this season. While he isn’t much of a defensive player, Dickerson is the best rebounder on the team by a wide margin and also their only consistent low-post scoring threat. Last year he showed flashes of a mid-range jumper and it will greatly improve the teams spacing if he can score more away from the paint.