One of the highest rated recruits to come out of the state in many years, Malachi Moreno, is set to make his collegiate decision on Friday at his own high school. The Great Crossing High School star has cut his options down to 8 total schools, with his final list being Indiana, Iowa, Louisville, Ohio State, UNC, Notre Dame, Arkansas, and Kentucky.

Kentucky is fresh off a McDonald’s All-American commitment from the Commonwealth just two classes ago, but if you remember, Reed Sheppard was listed as only a top-80 overall recruit in 2023. Malachi Moreno has now emerged into the top-25. It’s been nearly a decade since the program has accepted a commitment from an in-state recruit with this high of a national ranking.

As Mark Pope ventures into his first true recruiting class, Malachi Moreno and Jasper Johnson are at the top of that list. With the leader at the helm changing this summer, and the homegrown talent being as great as ever, showing fans that you can secure the local talent as future Wildcats will help pave the foundation for the future. I’d argue he needs to have both of them and not just one, but not getting either will stir up a lot of dust. Malachi has presented himself as the first chance, and Kentucky fans are going to be hanging on like it is their last breath to hear him say “committing to the University of Kentucky.”

As the 7-foot-1, 230-pound four-star center cements himself as a talent on the court, it sounds like he brings a lot of value off the floor as well. I was honored to speak to his head coach to get an understanding of just who Malachi is, directly from the man he now plays for.

“While he is a great basketball player, I can’t say enough about the type of person he is. He leads the student section in sports other than basketball and he is great in the community as a role model,” said Steve Page, GCHS Head Boys Basketball Coach.

As the years have gone by, Kentucky often picked up great personalities under John Calipari and I don’t expect that to be any different under Mark Pope with this one. The difference in this recruitment versus any other highly rated recruit is that Malachi understands Kentucky Basketball and what it means to be a Wildcat. A lot of players have to learn how “different” it is once they arrive, but Reed Sheppard, Travis Perry, and Trent Noah can all tell you because they are living it. Growing up in this state, it’s everything and whether Moreno picks Kentucky or not, trust me, he knows what all it intel’s.

I would argue that many of you have been watching Moreno for quite some time now, but I’m confident that none of us knew the player he was back in middle school, myself included. Coach Steve Page says that he started to see signs of greatness very early on.

“When Malachi played for us as an 8th grader you could see he had what it takes to be where he is today.” He continued with, “That year, he scored 33 points in a game, but I was as impressed with him as a teammate. In a game against our biggest rival that year where he only played 1 total minute, he was as excited for his team winning the game as he was the night that he scored 33.”

Clearly he’s got both the mentality of the game, as well as, the physicality of the game figured out if he was able to do all of that at such a young age.

Now if we fast forward to just over three years later, fans are wanting to know what his game is like now. Every college coach in the country wants him, but for those who haven’t gotten to see him play in person, what kind of player could Kentucky be getting if he was to commit to them?

Steve says, “A couple of things I think Malachi does at an elite level are being a great teammate, defending the paint, and running the floor.” But, “I think he will improve in all (of that) when he gets in a college strength and conditioning program.” Overall, “He truly cares about one thing – winning.”

As the landscape of basketball is changing in both college and professional, center’s no longer can just remain stationary in the post and be limited to only rebounding and put-backs. Big men have to be more diverse, develop a shot, and have great off-ball movement to make themselves more of a threat to everyone on the floor. They must understand the system just as much as the point guard if they want to be successful. His coach says he checks off all the boxes in that category too.

“I have always been impressed with his knowledge of the game. From day 1 when we ran an offensive set, Malachi not (only) knew what he needed to do, but also all 5 spots on the floor.”

As he enters his senior season with the Warhawks, his sights are on winning games and leading his team to hopefully a state title. Along the way, there will be some hardware acquired for the best players across the state. The most notable one is the KY Mr. Basketball award. As one would understand, his coach believes he will be most deserving of the honor.

“Mr Basketball in Kentucky should be a given for Malachi.”

An idea that is very possible to become reality just 9 months from now for the hopeful future Kentucky Wildcat.

According to 247Sports, Moreno currently owns 27 public offers, having scheduled visits for Ohio State (Sept. 6), North Carolina (Sept. 13), Indiana (Sept. 20), Arkansas (Oct. 4), Iowa (Oct. 7), and Kentucky (Oct. 11).

As of present day, Malachi has already (unofficially) visited Kentucky’s campus 5 times, four coming in 2024 and once in 2023. His official offer came in October of 2023.

In an interview with WLKY after one of his games this summer, Mark Pope stopped in to watch his game up close. He said in his postgame comments, “Coach Pope, he understands how bigs play. I mean, taking the time out of the day to meet with every single one of my family members, that meant a lot. And, he contacted me the very first day he got the job, so, I mean, that definitely shows that he is here for business and that he wants me to play for him. I never really thought this was going to be a possibility for me, and then I shot up, I grew, and I realized, ‘Hey, you might be good at this.’”

Those are definitely comments you love to hear if you’re on the blue side of things. Either way, on Friday at 11:00 AM ET in the city of Georgetown, just 15 minutes outside of Lexington, he will finally be committing to a school. Where do you think he’ll choose?