Syracuse Basketball: 4-star center with SU offer soars in national rankings

Malachi Moreno, a 2025 four-star center who received a scholarship offer from Syracuse basketball coaches more than a month ago, recently made a big jump in updated national rankings for his class.

The 7-foot-1 Moreno, a standout junior at Great Crossing High School in Georgetown, Ky., was one of the biggest risers when Rivals.com updated its top 150 of the 2025 class not too long ago. Moreno, per Rivals.com, jumped up 12 spots to No. 51 around the country.

The Orange coaching staff offered Moreno in late October. According to his X page, some of his other relatively new offers include fellow Atlantic Coast Conference squad Clemson and Baylor.

Moreno’s full offer sheet also features schools such as Kentucky, 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.

Syracuse basketball faces steep competition for 2025 four-star center Malachi Moreno.

Several of the primary recruiting services deem Moreno as a top-five center within his cycle, as well as a top-35 national prospect. In the most recent AAU season, he earned high marks from national analysts and scouts for his play as a member of Indiana Elite in the Adidas 3SSB league.

Per media reports and commentary from recruiting experts, Moreno has taken visits to a variety of teams, such as Kentucky, Arkansas, Cincinnati, Purdue, Tennessee, Iowa, Indiana, Ohio State and Notre Dame.

Moreno’s junior year in the 2023-24 stanza at Great Crossing is just getting underway, but as a sophomore, he averaged 14.9 points, 11.4 rebounds and 4.8 blocks per game while connecting on an impressive 64 percent from the field.

Analysts and scouts agree that Moreno could continue to see his 2025 national rankings skyrocket, assuming he shines in 2023-24 at Great Crossing. With his size and length, Moreno has the opportunity to further position himself as one of the premier big men in the junior class.

As I noted in another recent column, Syracuse basketball coaches have offered scholarships to nearly 20 players in the 2025 cycle, although the vast majority of them are point guards, shooting guards, combo guards and small forwards out on the wing.

To the best of my knowledge, Moreno could be the only true center in the 2025 class who thus far has secured a ‘Cuse offer, however, Syracuse basketball is pursuing a couple of four-star forwards in this cycle, such as Matthew Gilhool from Philadelphia and Sadiq White Jr. from Charlotte, N.C.