UNC Basketball: Michigan Wolverines offer top UNC recruiting target

Juwan Howard and the Michigan Wolverines have their sights set on a top UNC basketball target in the class of 2022.

Since Juwan Howard was named head coach of the men’s basketball program at the University of Michigan two years ago, both he and the Wolverines have been on fire. Howard put together a top-15 recruiting class in 2020, and followed it up with what is currently the No. 1-ranked class in the nation for the 2021 cycle.

He reeled in a trio of 4-star recruits last year that was highlighted by outstanding — and underrated — 7-foot-2-inch big man Hunter Dickinson, who quickly established himself as one of the top front court players in the Big Ten Conference last season. Fast forward a year, and Howard’s latest recruiting class tops the nation, and boasts a pair of 5-star recruits in Caleb Houstan and Moussa Diabate.

Add to it that the Wolverines won 19 games in Howard’s first season on the bench, followed by a a 23-5 mark in 2020-21 — which was good enough for a first-place finish in the Big Ten, and an appearance in the NCAA Tournament’s Elite Eight — and it certainly appears as if the Michigan basketball program and their young head coach have things going in the right direction, both on the court and on the recruiting trail.

Now, Howard and company have their sights set on one of the North Carolina Tar Heels’ top targets in the class of 2022. On Monday, Stockrisers’ Jake Weingarten reported that Dereck Lively II had been offered a scholarship by the Wolverines, adding to a list of schools that already includes Florida, Florida State, Georgetown, LSU, Memphis, Miami, Ohio State, UCLA and Xavier. And for a prospect that already measures 7-feet-1-inch tall and 220 pounds, and ranks among the top centers in the nation, that list will only continue to grow.

Lively was offered a UNC scholarship back when Roy Williams was still the head coach, but Hubert Davis confirmed his own interest in the rising big man after taking the job in early April. With the kind of basketball that Lively likes to play, and the type of college program he has described wanting to be a part of in recent interviews, it stands to reason the the Tar Heels have a chance in what is likely to become an all-out slugfest between many of the nation’s top high-major programs.

Lively, a soon-to-be senior at Westtown School in Bellefonte, Pennsylvania, is ranked 36th in the nation according to the 247Sports Composite. He’s fourth among centers in the class, and No. 1 in the state of Pennsylvania.

Check back with Keeping It Heel for all the latest on the Tar Heels’ pursuit of Dereck Lively II, and everything UNC basketball.