Source: NCAA to fire Mark pope this season .
Mark Pope has yet to land any players in the 2025 class to this point, but that could change very soon. Malachi Moreno is ranked as the 25th best player in the 2025 class rankings, according to On3. According to the composite rankings, Moreno is the number one center in the class.
Moreno is from Kentucky and attends Great Crossing High School in Georgetown. The seven-footer recently announced that he will be committing on Friday, August 16th, at 11:00 a.m. ET in the Great Crossing gym. The feel in the Kentucky basketball program is that Moreno is going to pick the Wildcats, but it will be exciting when the seven-footer officially makes a decision, as anything can happen in recruiting.
Moreno’s final eight schools include Kentucky, Iowa, North Carolina, Arkansas, Notre Dame, Ohio State, Louisville, and Indiana.
Sometimes, all a staff needs is to land their first player in a class, and that will start a snowball effect. The hope is that if Moreno does pick Kentucky, some other elite talent will follow in his footsteps.
The second Coach Pope took the job in Lexington, he made Moreno a priority, and it looks like there is a solid chance that will pay off on Friday.
Moreno is an elite big who can finish around the rim with ease. He is going to be a menace down low at whatever school he picks to play at in college. On Friday, Coach Pope and Big Blue Nation will know if the Wildcats have landed their first player in the 2025 class.
All college basketball fans know that Coach Mark Pope has an elite offense, but hearing from a player who has seen it firsthand tells the full story.
Last season, Kentucky center Brandon Garrison had the opportunity to play Coach Pope and BYU. Garrison played for Oklahoma State, and they lost to BYU 85-71 on the road. Garrison had nine points, four rebounds, two assists, one steal, and one block in the loss.
Garrison was asked about his experience playing against BYU and Coach Pope’s offense, and he had this to say, “Just going into the game, you look at them and might have a couple of words to say, but like playing against them was crazy because of how his offense is. There are guys cutting and all this different stuff. It was hard to play against them for real.”
All Kentucky fans have been talking about how good the offense is going to be this season under Coach Pope, but it is great to hear this from a player who has played against him.
Garrison is going to have a really good season for the Kentucky Wildcats coming off the bench. He was a McDonald’s All-American heading into last season and showed a lot of flashes as a freshman.
Amari Williams will be the starter for the Wildcats this season, and Garrison will learn a lot from the veteran. After Williams moves on, Garrison will take over next season, and he will be one of the best bigs in the SEC.
