Kentucky basketball predicted to land elite 2025 seven-footer

Mark Pope could be getting close to landing his first recruit of the 2025 class.

Great Crossing's Malachi Moreno (24) and teammates mob Vince Dawson (1) in jubilation after Dawson's last second shot lifted the Warhawks 48-46 over Newport at Thursday's 2023 Chad Gardner Law King of the Bluegrass holiday basketball tournament at Fairdale High School. Dec. 21, 2023 / Matt Stone/The Courier Journal / USA

One of the recruits in the 2025 class that Coach Mark Pope is pushing hard after is four-star center Malachi Moreno. He is a seven-footer from the Bluegrass State who plays at Great Crossing High School in Georgetown.

Moreno is ranked as the 25th-best player in the 2025 class according to the composite rankings, but the belief is that he will be a five-star when it is all said and done.

A well-known X/Twitter page @HSTopRecruiting put out a prediction for where some of the best players in the 2025 class are going to end up, and they predicted Moreno to end up at Kentucky.

HS Top Recruits had this to say about the Wildcats leading for Moreno, "I think this one is early but I know the new Kentucky staff has reached out a lot with him and family as well as being one of Pope’s first calls on day 1 of him being the new Kentucky HC. He has scheduled a handful of visits, but I think the urge for him to stay home and play for Kentucky, a team he’s attended/watched a lot of, will win out. Unless Pope goes all in on Eric Reibe or another five, and the playing time just isn’t there at Kentucky, then I believe he will be a Cat."

When there is an elite player in the state of Kentucky, Coach Pope needs to make sure that they end up playing for the Kentucky Wildcats. Moreno has a visit coming up soon, and he is a player who would fit in nicely with Coach Pope's system. It sounds like Moreno wants to be a Wildcat.