Penn State Men’s Basketball Makes Top 7 for 5-Star Center

Penn State men’s basketball has made five-star center Dereck Lively’s top seven schools. The 2022 prospect announced his narrowed recruiting list on Thursday evening.

Lively, a Bellefonte native, currently plays for the Westtown School in West Chester in addition to Team Final, a high profile Philadelphia EYBL program. Lively recently visited Penn State this past weekend on an unofficial visit under new head coach Micah Shrewsberry.

Penn State joins a host of high-profile programs on Lively’s final seven including Duke, Kentucky, North Carolina, Michigan, USC and Florida State.

Lively’s mother, Kathy Drysdale, is Penn State Athletics’ director of marketing and a former Lady Lion basketball standout.

The 7-foot-1 big man is rated the 20th best prospect in 2022 recruiting class by the 247 Network Composite rankings and the third best center in the class as well as the top prospect in the state of Pennsylvania.

It remains to be seen how much of a chance Penn State truly has when it comes to eventually landing Lively. While the high-profile prospect would be the best player to ever commit to Penn State, Shrewsberry and his staff are not short on quality targets on the recruiting trail.

Lively has not announced a commitment date.