City of Palms - Malachi Moreno

[JPFisher]

I do remember the couple of times that Reed competed against 5 star high school guys he always showed up and more than held his own. But then maybe he was just super special.

Benefit of being a guard versus a center, I imagine. No having to hope the ball carrier can get it to you.

We will likely have Garrison and based upon the observations on this game we will probably need a big man portal transfer of talent. Relying on Freshman who aren't the very very elite has been a poor outcome in their one and done year.

Ostensibly, it's easier for a team full of D1 talent to single out one great player and shut them down, a la Moreno. I think Malachi will need time, but I don't think we can draw any conclusions about his freshman potential based on this game.

 

[sjk0000]

Great Crossing is currently 33 in the rankings nationally but was 10th prior to getting beat by Newport. As a KY native, I was just expecting more. It is sad that we were not playing a smarter game. They were not playing through their best player(Malachi). They played undisciplined, uninspired. Lots of runouts and poor defense.

I get that Columbus is a prep school that recruits. They are ridiculously talented. Just hate that GC got embarrassed.

St X is the best team in KY this year…. By far.

 

[JonathanW]

Lol...so if a public high school in the 26th largest state in the country gets their a$$ handed to them by a private prep school from Miami this is some sort of indictment on basketball in the state?

How about the fact they were even invited to play?

26th largest state, but…KY has the most counties per square mile, meaning outside of the few cities, KY is divided into more counties than the population should dictate. This there are a lot of smaller schools. I bet most HS in KY have <1000 students.

 

[JonathanW]

We will likely have Garrison and based upon the observations on this game we will probably need a big man portal transfer of talent. Relying on Freshman who aren't the very very elite has been a poor outcome in their one and done year.

I don’t think we or Pope are or ever should expect a FR to come in playing starter minutes unless he is an elite player (Wall, Cousins, Murray, Randle, etc…). So I think we probably were and still are hoping for 12-15mpg from Moreno, max.

 

[kywildcat41035]

10 points 6 boards

That don’t sound bad at all considering what he was up against!

 

[NerlensCat]

St X is the best team in KY this year…. By far.

GC was ranked above them in National and State rank until they got beat. Now GC is ranked about 10 spots nationally behind St. X.

I will say that Columbus(No 3)was putting it on Grayson, Ga (Holt and Wilkins) in the first half. But I did not see Wilkins playing much when I was watching. Grayson made a much better game, at least early in the second half. Didn’t watch the whole game. Columbus has some great players, but they play smart/sound basketball. IMG(No1)was getting beat by La Lumiere in the 3rd quarter. But, I think IMG came back to win. From what I have seen Columbus takes it easy.

 

[catsfan325]

Some highlights from the game against Columbus if anyone is interested. Several good Moreno plays.

 

[ccukuk]

Pope is not Cal. Give CMP a chance before blasting him...

Uh, that will be hard because he’s not coming to Kentucky.

 

[ccukuk]

Lol...so if a public high school in the 26th largest state in the country gets their a$$ handed to them by a private prep school from Miami this is some sort of indictment on basketball in the state?

How about the fact they were even invited to play?

36th

 

[Blue_2_the_bone]

Yeah. I’m not sure why anyone would think a good state team could compete with a D-1 Prep Team with future NBA draft picks.

 

[ralphdaltonfan]

Hearing that on several outlets that Moreno is getting blasted. This is trash. He's a talented guy and will be an excellent player and fit for Kentucky/Coach Pope. He's going to have to get tougher/adjust to physical play but guess what-so does everyone else that plays his spot.

What I like to bring up when talking about mismatched HS games is this is why coaches like AAU ball-the purpose is they can see guys face off against their peers and Moreno more than held his own-he excelled. He can run the floor, has skill, and can rim protect. Is he AD? No. But let me ask you? Who the hell is? You get an AD once every 25/50 yrs to come along. Moreno fits how Kentucky plays. The issue is he's got to rely on subpar HS teammates against to tier guys in a matchup like that-and it's going to end up like the game did. He moved well and belonged on the court. He was in the big boy part of this event too-not the JV like tier where we saw Perry's team play last year. Perry looked fantastic, put up numbers and it's equated to what in CBB? Perry also didn't flourish in AAU with Indiana Elite on a loaded team-he was decent but nothing like he was in his HS.

 

[NerlensCat]

In think Moreno will be fine. I just hated the way the team played. In my view, they should have spread the floor, put him in position to either make a move to the basket or find the open man when the double came.

Instead, it looked like everyone was looking for their minute of fame. Jacking up shots.

I do think he is more potential than finished product. He is going to need some development. Not unlike the current Freshmen.

 

[shaudyshaud]

We really need an NBA sub-forum, lol.

What does this have to do with the NBA?

 

[shaudyshaud]

I don’t think Moreno will be thrown in and expected to lead us next year . He will have time to figure it out . The Boozer twins have pretty much been running through competition in HS and AAU.

 

[NerlensCat]

I don’t think Moreno will be thrown in and expected to lead us next year . He will have time to figure it out . The Boozer twins have pretty much been running through competition in HS and AAU.

I just know how some people just give up on a Freshman, if they don’t just tear it up. He might surprise me. But, his upper body strength and post development need some work. Think Garrison with less strength.


So, keeping Garrison for next season and adding a quality 4/5 or bigger 3 man, besides Wilson, will probably be high on Pope’s list.

Moreno is not alone. Watched Ament struggle against Dybantsa and Darius Adams and Jalen Harrelson struggle against Darius Acuff and team IMG. There is definitely some separation at the top end of this 25’ class. Acuff looked really good offensively last night.

 

[ralphdaltonfan]

What does this have to do with the NBA?

I still don't know why Smash's awesome recruiting thread was taken down. Apparently some upper crust fans are beneath it or something? Getting ****ing weird to be a fan who likes recruiting I guess?

 

[NerlensCat]

I still don't know why Smash's awesome recruiting thread was taken down. Apparently some upper crust fans are beneath it or something? Getting ****ing weird to be a fan who likes recruiting I guess?

Yeah, I miss it as well. It is so crazy that we have so many other topics on this board. Yet they take that thread down. At least it was only one thread.

 

[bnewt]

I still don't know why Smash's awesome recruiting thread was taken down. Apparently some upper crust fans are beneath it or something? Getting ****ing weird to be a fan who likes recruiting I guess?

Agree, that was nice to check for any recruiting updates

 

[DrH. Lecter]

26th largest state, but…KY has the most counties per square mile, meaning outside of the few cities, KY is divided into more counties than the population should dictate. This there are a lot of smaller schools. I bet most HS in KY have <1000 students.

Yep. And even a bigger problem for HS Football. We should combine counties down to about 60.

 

[DrH. Lecter]

36th

26th.

 

[shaudyshaud]

I still don't know why Smash's awesome recruiting thread was taken down. Apparently some upper crust fans are beneath it or something? Getting ****ing weird to be a fan who likes recruiting I guess?

It got deleted around the time the message board thread police mentioned it . He’s not a mod so I’m not sure if that’s why .

It was a damn good thread though . Enjoyed Smash keeping us updated and you giving us information on a lot of recruits .