John Calipari has sights set on new recruit: 9th grader Alier Maluk

On3 imageby:Zack Geoghegan10/15/21

ZGeogheganKSR

No, this isn’t the Billy Gillispie era–Kentucky Basketball is recruiting a kid who has yet to play a game of high school basketball. But this time around, the prospect in question has quickly established himself as one of the most coveted underclassmen in the country.

Alier Maluk (pronounced Ahh-Leer Mall-Uck) has just started his freshman season at Imani Christian Academy, a small private school located in Pittsburgh, PA. He turned 15 years old back in April and has been playing basketball for about three years now. Originally born in South Sudan, Maluk has been in the states since he was 10.

But the basketball differences between the eighth-grader that Gillispie accepted a commitment from back in 2008 and Maluk are easy to spot: Maluk is a thin 6-foot-10, runs like a gazelle, and has more in his bag of tricks at 15 than most high school seniors.

That is why Kentucky head coach John Calipari made the trip up to Pittsburgh earlier this week. He had to see what all the fuss is about for himself.

Maluk already holds four Divison I offers from Texas A&M, Seton Hall, Pittsburgh, and LSU. The UK staff has actually been in contact with Maluk since August. Florida State, Georgia, and Georgetown have also been in contact with him.

A glimpse at Maluk’s highlights from over the summer quickly explains why he’s a rising star in the recruiting world. He can handle the ball, pass with precision, score from anywhere on the floor, and swat away would-be layups.

“Alier’s really special,” Maluk’s head coach at Imani Christian, Omar Foster, told KSR on Thursday. “He’s 6-10 and can put the ball on the floor. He can pass the ball really well. He can put the ball in the hole, he can shoot the midrange jump shot well, he’ll go down in the paint and he has a nice jump hook. He’s a kid but he has almost a complete package. He’s what you’re looking for. By the time he’s in the 12th grade he’s going to be something very, very special.”

Calipari isn’t one to waste his time with a recruit. For the Kentucky head coach to personally visit and watch Maluk practice and scrimmage in his own high school gym is a pretty big and notable deal. Calipari wouldn’t have gone if he didn’t believe there could be something special in Maluk.

“That was a great meeting,” Foster said. “Coach Cal is so laid back he’s not gonna really tell you how much he likes a kid or not but we do understand for him to come in the building, period, for even a coach to see Coach Cal, we know something’s good.

“It was a great conversation. He just wanted to see the kid get up and down the floor, see how athletic he was, his coordination. I think he was pretty happy with him, but Coach Cal is a really laid-back guy. Great coach, very motivating man, and really, really down-to-earth. We thought he was the best.”

Calipari didn’t explicitly tell Maluk or the Imani Christian staff what he liked or didn’t like about Maluk, but he did give them all some words of guidance–even comparing Maluk to an all-time Wildcat great, Anthony Davis.

“He gave us some advice,” Foster said of Calipari. “He was telling us that when he went to go recruit Anthony Davis, he would put Anthony Davis at the extended elbow and the elbow, foul-line extension, things of that nature. (Cal) was giving me some advice like ‘I think you should try to put him in those kind of spaces where they can’t double team him because he said Alier passes the ball really, really well.”

For Coach Foster, who has been at the helm of Imani Christian for six seasons now, he was thrilled to hear the comparison between Maluk and AD; but he was just as thrilled to receive a pointer or two from a Hall-of-Fame coach.

We started drawing up plays immediately,” Foster said with a laugh.

Alier Maluk off the court

It can be easy to forget that, even though Calipari and several Divison I schools are reaching out, Maluk is still just a kid. He’s shy and humble, not one to talk back to his coaches but one to soak in their words and use them as a way to improve his game. Maluk wants to diversify his skillset and make himself a great player.

He always tells me ‘Coach, I’ll go down in the paint and rebound but do you mind if I pop out?‘” Foster said. “He’s a very humble kid so it’s always ‘Coach is it okay to pop out on the wing from time to time?’ so I’ll say ‘Yeah you can pop out there.’

“He’s a really humble kid but he’s super excited. He’s a pleaser. I tell him that all the time, you can’t please everybody. But he wants to make the right decision. He wants to do the right thing. He wants a coach to be really happy with him. He’s honestly a joy to coach. He doesn’t give you any backtalk. He’s a humble kid. He’s a good kid.”

But no matter how talented and humble you might be, playing in front of Coach Calipari at 15 years old brings a lot of pressure.

“He absolutely was nervous,” Foster said of Maluk. “I had called a timeout, we had just done a little in-house scrimmaging with each other, I just called a timeout and told him–I told everybody, but I told him hey man settle down. Just let the game come to you. And once he got a little relaxed, (Calipari) got to see what he could do.”

And just like a nervous teenager, Maluk was eager to know how he performed.

Alier, the only thing he asked me was ‘Coach did I do pretty good?’” Foster said. “And I was like ‘Yeah I think you did pretty well,’. He just wanted to impress coach and he hopes that he put a good impression on coach.”

By all accounts, Maluk made a good impression on Calipari. Now, it’s about continuing the development. Kentucky isn’t known to offer high school freshmen a scholarship, but the staff will surely keep its eyes close on him as he progresses.

Maluk was playing in the highest level of AAU basketball over the summer. Imani Christian intends to load up on talented opponents in the coming seasons to continue pushing him. The coaching staff knows what they have in Maluk and his potential, and they don’t plan on wasting it.

“We don’t pamper him, we don’t baby him,” Foster said. “We’re going to treat you just like everybody else. You didn’t make it yet, we remind him of that.”

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