UNC Basketball: Tar Heels won’t visit five-star big man
Have Hubert Davis and the UNC basketball program backed off of one of the nation’s top high school prospects?
The North Carolina Tar Heels have opted not to visit 7-foot-1, 220-pound center and five-star prospect Dereck Lively II this week. Four of his other finalists — Duke, Kentucky, Michigan and Penn State — will be making the trip to Westtown School over the next few days to watch him play.
According to Zagsblog’s Adam Zagoria, The Wildcats and Nittany Lions will be in attendance on Thursday to watch the nation’s No. 1-ranked front court prospect. The Wolverines will be in the building on Friday, and the Blue Devils are scheduled for an appearance on Saturday.
That leaves Florida State, North Carolina and Southern Cal as finalists for Lively that won’t be visiting him this week. Zagoria gave no indication as to why that is, but I have to think — and have for quite some time now — that the Tar Heels know Lively is a long-shot to end up in Chapel Hill.
I think that’s especially true after the commitment they received from four-star big man Jalen Washington back in July, in addition to the uncertainty as to what junior center Armando Bacot and sophomore power forward Dawson Garcia will do next year. Lively is a likely one-and-done college basketball player, and he probably doesn’t want to commit to a program that could potentially have a crowded front court that boasts multiple four and five-star players and All-ACC performers.
Lively did visit North Carolina in June, along with Duke and Kentucky. The latter seems like a really good fit for the consensus top-5 prospect, though there definitely hasn’t been much of an indication from Lively or his camp on where he might end up. There are only two predictions across the Rivals and 247Sports platforms as of now, so I wouldn’t put a whole lot of stock into those — both are for Kentucky.
Lively has stated that he will take his time coming to a decision, and that it won’t be based on money. That’s primarily because he only plans to be on a college campus for one year before heading to the NBA Draft in 2023. What campus that will be I do not know, but I really don’t figure that the Tar Heels will play much of a part in his recruitment over the coming months.
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Check back with Keeping It Heel for any developments in the Dereck Lively recruitment, as well as everything UNC basketball.