UNC Basketball: Don’t expect this five-star to sign with Tar Heels

The push to land more recruits for the UNC Basketball program in the 2022 recruiting class continues here in the month of July.

With UNC holding the No. 1 class in 2022 due to commitments from Will Shaver, Seth Trimble and Jalen Washington. But Hubert Davis and his staff are hoping to land a few more recruits potentially, ending with a four or five man class when it’s all said and done.

The Tar Heels still have offers out for several recruits in the class including a few five-star prospects. One of those prospects is center Dereck Lively, a prospect that earned his offer from UNC a few months back.

But where do things stand with Lively?

After UNC landed both Shaver and Washington, that gave them two centers in the class. Add in the fact that blue bloods like Duke and Kentucky entered the race as well as Florida State and the Tar Heels appear to be fading in this recruitment.

The Pennsylvania native recently caught up with DuShawn London of 247Sports to talk about his recruitment and the teams involved. He talked Duke, Kentucky, USC, Penn State, and Florida State but no mention of the Tar Heels.

"Along with the massive crowd, Kentucky head coach John Calipari, and Penn State’s head coach Micah Shrewsberry were sitting courtside to see their priority target along with Michigan’s assistant coach Phil Martelli. Lively will also be considering Florida State, Duke, UNC, and USC and has already taken visits to Penn State, Kentucky, Duke, and UNC. As of now Lively looks to potentially narrow his list to five towards the beginning of the school year or the fall and try to make a winter decision."

With Lively looking to cut his list down to five, it wouldn’t be shocking to see UNC left off of it when that time comes. There’s no denying that Lively is an elite player but with two centers already committed, it’s doubtful he wants to split time like that.

As it stands right now, Kentucky appears to be the favorites to land the talented center in the 2022 class. They hold the lone crystal ball prediction on 247Sports, coming from Chris Fischer of CatsPause just a few days ago.

For more on UNC Basketball recruiting, please check back with Keeping It Heel.