By ADAM ZAGORIA
Malachi Moreno is staying home.
The 6-foot-11, 230-pound four-star center from Georgetown (KY), chose Kentucky over Arkansas, Indiana, Iowa, Louisville, North Carolina, Notre Dame and Ohio State. He had more than 30 Division 1 offers.
“I will be taking my talents to the University of Kentucky,” he said Friday during an announcement at Great Crossing High School.
Moreno is first-year coach Mark Pope’s first high school commit and his first commit in the class of 2025.
“Coach Pope wants to bring banner No. 9,” he told ZAGSBLOG at USA Basketball mini-camp. “He sold out a press conference. He’s got some class and he knows what he’s doing because he played there and he won a championship.”
When he took over for John Calipari in May, Pope said it was important to keep local talent at home in Kentucky. He and his staff have signed Kentucky natives Travis Perry and Trent Noah.
“These young men that grow up in Kentucky, they bring a spirit to the team that cannot be fabricated or replaced,” Pope said at the time. “And it helps us to win, and we will continue to recruit them.”
In addition to being a 4.0 student, he is Great Crossing’s all-time leader in rebounds and had 25 boards in a game last season. He also ranks sixth all-time in Kentucky state in history in blocks, and has six games of 10+ blocks. He has 62 double-doubles in 115 high school games, along with four triple-doubles.
His Great Crossing team went 91-15 the last three seasons.
“He’s an incredible teammate, always team over himself,” Great Crossing coach Steve Page said during his announcement.
“He’s a leader on and off the court. He knows what kind of role model he is and knows that those young kids look up to him.
“He is 100 percent a five-star human being.”
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