Announcement: Mark Pope priority in-state standout target makes official decision to join Kentucky basketball

Malachi Moreno is a big time Kentucky basketball prospect and he’s locked in an official commitment to Lexington.

Prioritizing in-state talent is something Mark Pope stressed during his inaugural news conference and in almost every interview that followed. Ultimately, he wants children to grow up in the Kentucky region and know what it means to have the word “Kentucky” emblazoned across their breast.

Malachi Moreno, a four-star center in 2025, is one of them. Mark Pope has made Moreno, a talented forward from Great Crossing (Ky.) High School, a top target ever since taking over the Kentucky program.

The next stage in Kentucky’s efforts to hire Moreno is finally here: an official meeting with the new personnel.KSR.com reports that Moreno is anticipated to make his formal appearance during Big Blue Madness weekend.

Although the date of Big Blue Madness hasn’t been announced yet, it happened on October 13 of previous year. Thus, you may roughly schedule Moreno’s visit at that time.

Just this year, Moreno has traveled to Kentucky a total of three times. But during the Mark Pope era, just the most recent visit—which took place last month—was made.

Tennessee, Arkansas, and Indiana The two biggest challenges to Kentucky are some of the other programs involved, North Carolina and Iowa. However, it seems like Kentucky is currently ahead of the rest of the field.

While it’s tough to say there is a ‘must-get’ prospect at this point in Pope’s tenure, this one could classify almost as that. Because of the emphasis Pope has made about in-state prospects, he needs to be able to land one in the critically important 2025 class.

Pope landed Travis Perry and Trent Noah in 2024 — two of the best players in the state. Now, it’s time to build on that and land one of the most talented center in the entire country.

He’s coming off of a strong AAU season with Indiana Elite, finishing 16-1 with a runner-up finish at the Adidas 3SSB Championship. He averaged 13.4 pionts, 8.4 rebounds and 2.1 blocks per game.

Moreno is ranked the No. 25 overall player in the 247Sports composite rankings and the No. 2 center in the country.