UNC Basketball: Four-star center can see himself at North Carolina

While things are a little unsettling in Chapel Hill regarding the future of players in the UNC Basketball program, Roy Williams and his staff are hoping to lock up some big recruits for future classes.

Depending on what happens with players this offseason, UNC’s future recruiting classes could become that much more critical. The Tar Heels currently have a two-man class for 2021 and it looks like their three remaining targets in Chet Holmgren, Hunter Sallis and Patrick Baldwin are likely to go elsewhere. But in 2022, UNC has some offers out to big recruits and Williams is hoping to land a big class.

One of those targets is four-star center Dereck Lively out of Bellefonte, Pennsylvania and has a total of 17 offers in is recruitment, including one from UNC. While his recruitment has been a little quiet of late, Lively is starting to see significant interest from two programs: UNC and Penn State.

Lively talked about both of those schools with DuShawn London of 247 Sports to break down his recruitment and the involvement of UNC and Penn State. He revealed that he has talked to UNC and how he thinks he would fit the program:

"“My relationship with North Carolina has been great,” he said. “We talk, we stay in communication, and they just have continued to recruit me. They have a lot of bigs who they play through and get involved. I watched their game during March Madness and throughout the whole season and they’ve just has been good games to watch and I think I can fit that play style. It’s a great school, obviously Michael Jordan went there but UNC has always been a winning school, so I can see myself there as well.”"

Lively is ranked as the No. 39 overall recruit, No. 5 center and the No. 2 player in his state per the 247Sports composite rankings. While his recruitment is starting to heat up a bit, he hasn’t set a timetable for cutting his list of making a final decision.

Right now it appears as if both UNC and Penn State are in good shape in this recruitment but with time still left, anything could change.

For more on Lively and other UNC Basketball recruiting targets, please check back with Keeping It Heel.