NCAA Basketball Recruiting: Ranking the 7 finalists for 2022 C Dereck Lively

4. North Carolina Tar Heels

The Tar Heels got great news this week with leading scorer and rebounder Armando Bacot deciding to return for another year. He and Oklahoma transfer Brady Manek will form one of the top frontcourts in the country next season but odds are great that both will be gone, so the frontcourt will be one of big priority on the recruiting trail.

UNC has three-star forward Will Shaver committed but he’s not a projected Day 1 starter like Lively would be. And based on the potential 2022-23 roster, this center prospect could be a focal point as a freshman. The concern here is that new head coach Hubert Davis is unproven at this level as a D-I top guy and he’ll be replacing a Hall of Famer in Roy Williams. So right now I can’t be certain that it’ll work out perfectly for Lively here.

3. Duke Blue Devils

Similar to the Tar Heels, Duke will soon have a new head coach next year in Jon Scheyer, a longtime assistant and respected recruiter. But we won’t know how he’ll do without Coach K around until the 2022-23 season. There’s also Mark Williams, a former five-star center propsect that will likely start this upcoming season. If he breaks out, he’ll likely go pro. But if not, things could get interesting if he stays for a junior campaign.

But the frontcourt will still be fairly empty and in need of several quality big men to give Coach Scheyer talent in his first year. He’s currently the only center the team is targeting in the 2022 class and if Williams leaves, there will be a void. At the end of the day though, it’s Duke, regardless of the coach and if you have a great shot at starting as a freshman, it’ll be hard to pass up.