Kentucky targets featured in On3's updated 2025 basketball player rankings
As the 2022-23 high school basketball season winds down, the recruiting scene is only ramping up.
On Monday, our good friends over at On3 updated the basketball player rankings for the class of 2025. A handful of Kentucky men’s basketball targets made up the latest rankings, which expanded from 50 players to 75. This is On3’s second update for the current batch of high school sophomores and the first since November.
With nearly a full season of film now on record, there was plenty of movement and new additions to the list.
Most notably, Kentucky’s top target from the ’25 class, Darryn Peterson, checked in at No. 8 overall with four-star status. The 6-foot-5 shooting guard out of Canton, OH has long been a high priority for head coach John Calipari and was the first from the sophomore class to earn an official offer from the Wildcats. Peterson told On3’s Jamie Shaw in January that he is planning on taking an unofficial visit to UK “soon”. He’s already taken visits to Michigan and Ohio State with Duke showing interest, as well.
The On3 Consensus also has Peterson tabbed at No. 8 overall but as a five-star prospect.
Elsewhere, a handful of Commonwealth natives cracked the Top 75, headlined by Woodford County point guard Jasper Johnson, who checks in at No. 21 overall as a four-star recruit. Johnson, whose father Dennis played football at UK, was in Lexington for an unofficial visit earlier this year when he watched Kentucky take on Kansas at Rupp Arena. Assistant coach Orlando Antigua has been leading this recruitment for the ‘Cats.
Johnson will look to return to Rupp next week, but this time as a player. Woodford County plays No. 3 North Oldham in the 8th Region semifinals on Monday night with the overall winner of the region securing a spot in the state tournament. The KHSAA Boys Sweet 16 is set to begin on March 15 at Rupp Arena. Johnson is averaging 21.1 points and 3.6 rebounds per game for Woodford County on a shooting clip of 50.8 percent.
But Johnson isn’t the only top-ranked ’25 prospect from the Bluegrass. Malachi Moreno, a 6-foot-11 sophomore out of Georgetown’s Great Crossing High School — No. 10 in KSR’s most recent statewide high school rankings — is also considered a four-star recruit by On3, filling in at No. 31 overall. Unfortunately, Great Crossing was knocked out of the 13th Region semifinals by No. 2 Lexington Catholic over the weekend. But Moreno was excellent for the Warhawks this past season, averaging 14.8 points and 11.4 rebounds per outing while shooting 64.9 percent from the field.
As for the rest of the updated rankings, Kentucky has been linked to a handful of them, including top-ranked Cameron Boozer and Cooper Flagg, but there is no indication as to how serious those relationships are as of this moment. Additionally, Oak Hill Academy’s Kaden Magwood, who On3 has ranked No. 53 overall in the ’25 class, is originally from Louisville’s Western High School before he transferred to the prep program out of Virginia ahead of this season. However, Kentucky has yet to get involved.
On3’s Top 10 2025 prospects
- Cameron Boozer (PF) 6-8, 210 | Christopher Columbus HS (Miami, FL)
- Cooper Flagg (SF) 6-7, 295 | Montverde Academy (Newport, ME)
- Meleek Thomas (SG) 6-3, 165 | Lincoln Park Performing Arts Cs (Pittsburgh, PA)
- Joson Sanon (SF) 6-5, 180 | B M C Durfee (Attleboro Falls, MA)
- Jalen Haralson (SG) 6-7, 205 | Fishers (Anderson, IN)
- Koa Peat (SF) 6-7, 200 | Perry (Gilbert, AZ)
- Isiah Harwell (SG) 6-6, 190 | Wasatch Academy (Pocatello, ID)
- Darryn Peterson (SG) 6-5, 175 | Cuyahoga Valley Christian Academy (Canton, OH)
- Bryson Tiller (PF) 6-9, 220 | Overtime Elite (Atlanta, GA)
- Elzie Harrington (SG) 6-4, 185 | St. John Bosco (Long Beach, CA)
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