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Skyy Clark is the only commit for Kentucky Wildcats basketball in 2022, but now is the time when Coach Cal and his team really start to push the envelop to start to fill up the class.
One recent move they made in that direction was to offer a scholarship to center Dereck Lively, according to Jake Weingarten.
Kentucky just offered five-star junior Dereck Lively II, he told @Stockrisers. Major offer for the talented big man, who has ridiculous upside.
— Jake (@jakeweingarten) June 21, 2021
Lively is a 7-1 center from Pennsylvania, and he has standing offers from all of the top programs in the country. He is currently ranked as the No. 20 player in the 2022 class by 247 Sports Composite. When it comes to big men, he is listed as the No. 3 center in the class.
Lively is currently visiting Kentucky and has a visit scheduled with Duke (Jun. 28). He’s already visited North Carolina.
At this point, it is hard to tell who may be the front runner in his recruitment, as their are no predictions at Rivals or 247 currently logged. But with everyone after him, it was clear that Calipari had to make an offer to stay in the running.
Lively is a very athletic big, and the scouting report sounds a like like that of Nick Richards. While Richards got off to a slow start, he turned into a stud for Kentucky that was one of the more well rounded defenders Kentucky has had along with Anthony Davis and Willie Cauley-Stein.
Should Lively choose Kentucky, that is a great piece to put alongside Clark. If they continue to build the class around these two, it will be as solid as any class in the Calipari-era.
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