Syracuse Basketball: Orange enters recruitment of 4-star, 7-foot-1 center

Syracuse basketball coaches have extended a scholarship offer to one of the top centers in the 2025 class.

Per his X page, four-star center Malachi Moreno has picked up an offer from the Orange coaching staff. The 7-foot-1 Moreno is a junior at Great Crossing High School in Georgetown, Ky.

This spring and summer during the most recent AAU season, Moreno earned a lot of high praise from national analysts and scouts for his play as a member of Indiana Elite in the Adidas 3SSB league.

While his recruiting process likely has a way to go, Moreno has already earned more than 20 scholarship offers from a range of top-flight college teams, according to his X page and recruiting services.

Syracuse basketball has gotten into the recruiting mix for 2025 four-star center Malachi Moreno.

The account HS Top Recruits, in a Tuesday post on X, said that Arkansas, Kentucky, Indiana, Notre Dame and Auburn are in contact the most these days for Moreno.

According to HS Top Recruits, Moreno has taken visits to Kentucky, Arkansas, Cincinnati, Purdue, Tennessee, Iowa, Indiana, Ohio State and Notre Dame.

Beyond the Orange, Moreno’s offer sheet includes squads such as Providence, LSU, Southern California, Alabama, Auburn, Penn State, Florida, Creighton, Notre Dame, N.C. State, Arkansas, Virginia Tech, Tennessee, Michigan, Xavier, Indiana, Iowa, Ohio State, Cincinnati, Purdue, Missouri and Eastern Kentucky, among others.

In the 2025 cycle, 247Sports rates Moreno as the No. 31 national prospect, the No. 3 center and the No. 1 player in Kentucky. Over at On3, he is placed at No. 26 nationally, No. 5 at center and No. 1 in Kentucky.

According to the MaxPreps Web site, during the 2022-23 season as a sophomore at Great Crossing, Moreno appeared in 34 games. He averaged 22.0 minutes, 14.9 points, 11.4 rebounds and 4.8 blocks per contest, while connecting on 64 percent from the field.

In 2022-23, per MaxPreps, Great Crossing went 28-6 overall.

To date, the ‘Cuse coaching staff has offered nearly 20 prospects in the 2025 class, including numerous four-star and five-star players. That being said, the bulk of those offers have gone out to point guards, shooting guards and small forwards out on the wing.

If we’re talking about 2025 big men who hold Orange offers, besides Moreno, another target to monitor is four-star power forward/center Matthew Gilhool. The 6-foot-11 Gilhool, out of the William Penn Charter School in Philadelphia and the Philadelphia-based Philly Pride in the Under Armour Association league, was offered by Syracuse basketball in late August and took an official visit to the Hill toward the beginning of October.