Travis Perry and Trent Noah help Mark Pope fight to keep Malachi Moreno home

Mark Pope walked into a pretty favorable recruiting situation at Kentucky — beyond the obvious platform and resources that come with the job in Lexington. Despite a total roster rebuild in year one that forced the new staff to load up on super seniors in the portal while adding just three incoming freshmen, the Wildcats have two prized high school talents in the upcoming cycle right in their backyard.

On one end, you have a top-10 prospect in Jasper Johnson, widely seen as one of the best shot-makers in the 2025 class. He’s a five-star out of Lexington, the son of former UK football star Dennis Johnson. It’s easy to see the intrigue there, a player John Calipari started recruiting going into his sophomore year of high school. Now he’s a top priority for the likes of Kentucky, North Carolina, Alabama, Auburn, Baylor, Illinois, Louisville and Arkansas, among others.

On the other, you’ve got 7-foot big man Malachi Moreno out of Georgetown, the No. 1 center in 2025. He’s skilled with soft touch around the basket and rim protection on the other end, improving every time he steps on the floor. Previously dominating against in-state competition at Great Crossing, he’s now doing the same on the national stage at USA Basketball Junior National Team U18 Training Camp, NBPA Top 100 Camp, adidas Eurocamp and the 3SSB circuit — a standout no matter the platform. He just cut his list down to eight schools with Arkansas, Indiana, Iowa, Kentucky, Louisville, North Carolina, Notre Dame and Ohio State remaining in contention.

Can Pope keep both in-state stars home? Moreno was a guest on KSR to tell his side of the story, updating Big Blue Nation on where things stand with his recruitment, specifically after taking an unofficial to Kentucky last week to watch practice and meet with the coaches.

“It was a great visit. He’s a big, a bigger guy, so he knows how to coach big men. That’s one message he tried to push toward me, he knows how to coach big men my size and really improve them,” the top-ranked center said. “He says he can really develop my game and help me stay in the NBA, keep up as the game is going. That was one of the major pushes he put on me while I was on my visit.”

Moreno first received a scholarship offer from Kentucky under John Calipari on Oct. 28, 2023. He’s since been reoffered by Pope and the new staff, that coming during his recent trip to Lexington.

What’s the difference between their respective approaches, this staff vs. last?

“It is a little different. I’ve never had that kind of — I’ve been on a lot of visits, but he just had so much energy from when you stepped in the door to when you walked out the door,” Moreno said. “It was just consistent. It was a new sight for me because when Cal was there, there wasn’t necessarily that much energy. He wasn’t like, ‘Oh, let’s go!’ He was like, ‘Alright, let’s sit down, let’s talk.'”

Moreno’s brother, former EKU basketball superstar Michael Moreno, jumped in to clarify that both pitches worked and different doesn’t necessarily mean better or worse. Calipari doesn’t need to explain himself as an effective recruiter, clearly.

“In his defense, though, when you look at Cal — he’s seasoned. This was his 15th year at Kentucky, he’s been able to put together a really good product for kids like him where their dream is to achieve the NBA,” he said. “Pope is fresh, he’s wanting to get things rolling and started, rejuvenate life into the fanbase and into the players. It’s two totally different situations where they both can benefit in different ways.”

What does it mean to Moreno that Pope is prioritizing the local talent, starting with Travis Perry and Trent Noah this past cycle and now with him and Jasper Johnson in 2025? He’s happy to feel the love from a blue-blood program like Kentucky, but it’s also piqued his interest to ask the current in-state Wildcats what it’s like to live it as incoming freshmen.

Their message to him? There is nothing like it.

“They just said they want to keep in-state talent in the state,” Moreno said. “I actually had a talk with Travis (Perry) and Trent (Noah) and they were just telling me how much they loved it and how much BBN loves them. They told me there’s no place like home.”

Will he follow their lead by signing with the hometown Wildcats?

“I guess we’ll have to wait and see.”