Duke basketball: Giant recruit ready to announce his decision

A longtime Duke basketball target will soon reveal his college destination.

In early June, Westtown (Pa.) center Dereck Lively became one of the first Duke basketball offer recipients in his class. And the 7-foot-1, 220-pound five-star then took three official visits: to Chapel Hill, Lexington, and Durham.

So it made sense that Lively pitted the Tar Heels, Wildcats, and Blue Devils against each other this summer when he named his seven finalists: Duke, Florida State, Kentucky, Michigan, Penn State, Southern Cal, and UNC.

Now, though, he has set a decision date that is a tad sooner than most folks expected. Lively, who has jumped from No. 35 in June to No. 2 currently on the 247Sports 2022 Composite, told On3 recruiting insider Joe Tipton on Friday that he will name the winner in his recruitment at 6 p.m. ET Monday.

So does Duke basketball stand a legit chance to land Dereck Lively?

While reporting the update, Joe Tipton noted that the homestretch of the Dereck Lively race is likely a battle between Duke and Kentucky.

Well, between the 247Sports Crystal Ball and Rivals FutureCast, only three experts have entered predictions for Lively, suggesting a fair degree of uncertainty among the insiders as a whole. That said, all three picks at this point project the 17-year-old coveted big man to wind up at Kentucky.

Still, it seems worth keeping an eye out for any movement in the Crystal Ball and FutureCast this weekend.

Right now, Duke’s 2022 class consists of three pieces: four-star shooting guard Jaden Schutt, five-star small forward Dariq Whitehead, and five-star power forward Kyle Filipowski.

Meanwhile, the Blue Devils appear to remain in contention for Dereck Lively plus three other high school seniors: four-star point guard JJ Starling, four-star combo guard Anthony Black, and five-star small forward Mark Mitchell.