2/12/2021 basketball Edit

UNC Offers Class Of 2022 Center Dereck Lively

Pennsylvania big man Dereck Lively is the most recent member of the class of 2022 to receiver an offer from UNC. (Rivals.com)

Andrew Jones • TarHeelIllustrated

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Andrew Jones has covered sports for 26 years, including all major college & professional sports for daily newspapers & national sites. He's done radio and TV & is entering his seventh year at THI.

North Carolina has extended an offer to class of 2022 center Dereck Lively, who attends Westtown (PA) School.

Lively, who is 6-foot-11 and is rated the No. 45 overall prospect in the nation, informed Rivals.com’s Jamie Shaw on Friday afternoon Roy Williams’ program has offered. UNC picked up its communication in the early fall and it has since escalated.

Wayne Jones, Lively’s AAU coach at Team Final heaped high praise on the junior when THI spoke with him a couple of months ago.

"I've seen his progression since the eighth grade," Jones said. "I coached him since the eighth grade. His steady improvement is scary. It's like he gets better every year. Every time you see him he has added something to his game. Early on you really didn't have to have the eye to see it because he wasn't ready.

“In the eighth grade he really wasn't ready. Then I started to see it more in the summer that this kid could be really good. He wouldn't stop growing, still growing, still growing (laughing), and he's a really good kid."

Lively has also been offered by Ohio State, Maryland, and Pittsburgh, among others. Duke and Kentucky have also been in regular contact for a while, and it is anticipated on the trail his offer sheet will soon explode.

He is the No. 7 player nationally at his position.

UNC Offers Class Of 2022 Center Dereck Lively

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