By ADAM ZAGORIA
Dereck Lively, the 7-foot-1 forward/center from Westtown (PA) who helped lead Team Final to the Peach Jam championship in July, will host several high-major schools this week when the recruiting period ramps back up.
Lively will host Kentucky, Penn State, Michigan and Duke between Thursday and Saturday.
In June he released a top 7 of Kentucky, Duke, North Carolina, Michigan, Penn State, Florida State and USC.
In June, he visited North Carolina, Duke and Kentucky.
He said then he planned to also see Michigan, Penn State, Florida State and USC in the fall, but said Wednesday he has no visits planned as of yet.
“I plan to visit all my schools before I commit, so I plan to take those visits during the fall and winter,” Lively said in June. “I want to see all my options before I decide.”
With the Name, Image and Likeness developments coming to college basketball, Lively also stands to make some money, as The New York Times reported.
But he said he won’t make a decision on a college based on financial reasons.
“I’m still trying to get my head around that, it really just came out of nowhere with the NFT and paying you about that,” he said. “I’m not paying it that much attention, I really just leave up to my mom.
His mom, Kathy Drysdale, is a marketing director in the Penn State athletic department “It’s not really something I’m going to be looking into that much….The money is not really something I’m going to be making my decision off of because my goal is to get to the league for a one-and-done.”
As for a timeline on a college decision, he said in June: “Whenever it happens, it happens. I don’t want to rush it, so I’m just going to take my time with the process.”
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