NCAA Basketball Recruiting: Analzying 9 contenders for top-40 C Dereck Lively

Kansas Jayhawks

The Jayhawks have so much frontcourt depth for next season, top Junior College center transfer Sydney Curry decided to de-commit and play elsewhere. However, that’ll likely change a year from now. D-II transfer Cam Martin and Mitch Lightfoot have just one year of eligibility while starting center David McCormack will be entering his senior season and likely will be gone as well.

Right now, the only top-50 center Kansas is publically targeting is Kel’el Ware, who is in the beginning stages of his own recruitment. With several east coast teams in the mix, it may be hard for Coach Bill Self to get Lively out in the midwest. But assuming the depth chart works itself out, Kansas will have a starting gig at center to offer as a selling point.

Kentucky Wildcats

The starting center for the Wildcats next season will West Virginia transfer Oscar Tshiebwe and he’ll be around for 1-2 more years. How he fits will determine whether he’s back next offseason but more importantly for the program, they’re hoping to be the team to land No. 2 overall recruit Jalen Duren.

If Duren does end up in college (betting favorite would be the G League right now), the Wildcats are viewed as a big favorite to land him. If that happens, Lively likely would be heading elsewhere. But that’s where this gets tough for the program. How hard do they go after Duren if he’s going pro? Kentucky likely will have to determine how much a shot they really have with Lively this summer before making potential recruiting adjustments.