Syracuse Basketball: Kentucky in recruiting fray for newly offered 4-star big

About a week ago, Syracuse basketball coaches offered a scholarship to 2025 four-star center Malachi Moreno, he said in a post on X.

The 7-foot-1 Moreno already boasts a long and impressive offer sheet, and that list of offers just grew by a big one, as Southeastern Conference school Kentucky recently offered him a scholarship as well, Moreno said via his X account.

Understandably, the Wildcats officially entering his recruitment is something to monitor. Head coach John Calipari and his assistants are among the top recruiters nationwide, and my assumption is that the Orange will face an uphill battle to ultimately prevail for Moreno.

Moreno, one of the best centers around the country in the 2025 cycle, is a junior at Great Crossing High School in Georgetown, Ky. In the most recent AAU season, he played quite well as a member of Indiana Elite in the Adidas 3SSB league.

Syracuse basketball recently offered 2025 four-star center Malachi Moreno.

Besides the ‘Cuse and Kentucky, his offer sheet includes teams 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.

While Kentucky, in recent days, extended an offer to Moreno, media reports suggest that the Wildcats have been in touch with him for a while. The account HS Top Recruits, in a recent post on X, stated that Arkansas, Kentucky, Indiana, Notre Dame and Auburn have been in contact the most these days for Moreno.

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

Zack Geoghegan of Kentucky Sports Radio, in an article on the On3 Web site, noted that Moreno recently “took his second unofficial visit to UK in under two weeks (this past) Saturday after having stopped in Lexington for Big Blue Madness earlier this month.”

Without question, the Orange coaching staff will have to get Moreno on the Hill for a visit at some point if the ‘Cuse wants to emerge as a significant contender in his recruiting process.

It does seem that Moreno is a fast-rising prospect in the 2025 cycle. Multiple recruiting services rate him as a top-40 overall player, a top-five center and the No. 1 prospect in Kentucky within the junior class.

As I noted in a column when Syracuse basketball first offered him, per MaxPreps, Moreno as a sophomore during the 2022-23 season averaged 22.0 minutes, 14.9 points, 11.4 rebounds and 4.8 blocks per contest at Great Crossing, while connecting on 64 percent from the field.

Last year, Moreno helped lead Great Crossing to an outstanding 28-6 overall record, according to MaxPreps, and he’s primed for a stellar junior term with the Warhawks.