Dickinson Became First Player Named All-American With 2 Different Schools

One of poet Emily Dickinson's most inspirational quotes to live by reads, "Hope is the thing with feathers that perches in the soul." A striking number of college basketball players hoped for greener pastures when they transferred and their souls soared by becoming All-Americans.

More than half of the nation's DI All-Americans the past two seasons began their careers elsewhere, raising the number of transfer A-As since 1928-29 to 77. But it wasn't until this year when one of them - center Hunter Dickinson - became the first individual in NCAA history to be named an All-American with two different universities (Michigan and Kansas). Unbelievably, he could be joined in 2025-26 by guards PJ Haggerty (Memphis) and RJ Luis (St. John's) after they entered the transfer portal in an unstable roster environment.

Dickinson is the seventh player thus far in the 21st Century to earn All-American status in at least three seasons, joining the following alphabetical list of three-time honorees:

Hansbrough, the lone four-time A-A since Georgetown's Alonzo Mourning in the early 1990s, joined the following chronological list of 10 individuals in the 20th Century to earn All-American recognition all four of their seasons in college:

Ewing, Ferrin, Ford, Gola, Hansbrough, Lee, McDermott and Sampson are joined by the following 16 standouts - 10 of them competing in some part of the 1960s - as the total of 24 three-time NCAA first-team All-Americans in the last nearly 100 years:

NOTE: The first NBA hardship draft was in 1971, which was two years before the NCAA embraced freshman eligibility. Tisdale could have become the only four-time NCAA consensus first-team All-American if he didn't declare early for 1985 NBA draft.