Malachi Moreno impresses in McDonald’s All-American practices; earns a major
Some good news for the future Cat.
The Kentucky Wildcats coaching staff has been hot on the recruiting trail the last few days as they look to piece together the remainder of next season’s roster from the transfer portal.
Luckily for Mark Pope and his staff, they have three very talented high school recruits who will be joining them in Lexington next season. One of those is center Malachi Moreno, who just led Great Crossings to a Kentucky Sweet 16 championship.
The 4-star big man has now reported to the McDonald’s All-American Game to start practices with his team, and he’s already made an impression.
According to Jamie Shaw on On3, Moreno was quite impressive in his first outing at the game’s practices and was even named the second-best performer of the day.
“Malachi Moreno flew to the McDonald’s All-American events this morning straight off winning a Kentucky state championship last night. This scrimmage was his first participation of the week, and he made his presence felt immediately. Moreno has legit size, listed at 7-foot-0, with good length. He also has good hands, which helps his play around the basket. Moreno is a strong rebounder, cleaning up the boards in traffic. He also had a game-clinching block at the rim, putting it off the backboard. Offensively, he plays as a roll man and out of the dunker spots. It found his spots and played within himself, and he had some very loud finishes.”
It has been expected that Moreno might not make a major impact next season, but this report has to bring some promise to the impact he could make next season.
In addition, Moreno was just named the 2024-25 Kentucky MaxPreps High School Basketball Player of the Year, the outlet announced Monday. He becomes the third straight winner of the award to join Kentucky after Travis Perry and Reed Sheppard did so before him.
This season, Moreno averaged 21.5 points, 14.9 rebounds, 3.6 blocked shots, and 3.5 assists per contest while shooting a ridiculous 72.1% from the field. He went for 24 points (10/11 shooting), 15 boards, and three blocks in Great Crossings’ championship game victory over Bowling Green.
This award also puts Moreno on the ballot for the MaxPreps All-America Team, which will be released o
n April 8th.
