Rumor Mill: Latest chatter from adidas 3SSB in Birmingham

HOOVER, Ala. – The second session of the adidas 3SSB circuit is underway in the Birmingham suburbs. As always, the event features plenty of star power and an equal amount of chatter concerning where the league’s high-level prospects might end up for college. Rivals national analyst Rob Cassidy was on hand collecting intel while watching games and shares some news and notes from the event below.

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Four-star center Malachi Moreno lives roughly 15 minutes outside of Lexington and was a priority target for the old Kentucky staff. The big man seems to have carried that moniker over to the new era of Wildcat hoops, however, as new head coach Mark Pope is clearly prioritizing the 2025 standout and has made sure the Wildcats' recruitment of the local kid hasn’t missed a single beat.

“Coach Pope called me about a week and a half after he got the job and told me how well my play style fits his system and that he wants to get me on campus ASAP,” Moreno said. “It was nice to hear all that from him and it was pretty cool how quick he was to reach out being the new coach and all.”

According to Moreno, who grew up in the Bluegrass State, he was aware of Pope’s legacy as the captain of the 1996 Kentucky team that won the national title well before Pope got the Kentucky job and was excited that the captain of “The Untouchables” was returning home to guide the program. Moreno says he intends to learn more about Pope’s plan for Kentucky in person in the coming month, however.

“I’m going to go on a visit in a week or two – unofficial,” Moreno said “I’ll just drive over in the next couple weeks.”

Asked to list which other programs are most involved in his recruitment, Moreno listed Arkansas, USC, Michigan, Iowa, North Carolina, Texas and Kansas.

Four-star point guard Savo Drezgic has been in the United State for less than a year and is not only attracting interest and offers from high-major programs, but he’s already taken his first official visit. On the way to this weekend’s adidas 3SSB stop in Birmingham, Drezgic stopped off for a visit to Georgia, where head coach Mike White and his staff made sure the Serbian important knew he was a priority target.

“I liked it,” Drezgic, who played professionally in Serbia before landing in the United States just this year, said on Friday. “I really liked it a lot. They just showed me around and we talked and all of that.”

One of the top international prospects in his class, Drezgic, is a true point guard that is known for his facilitation skills as well his long-range shooting, both of which were on display in Alabama on Friday. There’s no doubt he will have a long list of options before his recruitment is said and done, as major programs are already kicking the tires on his process.

“I have not visited anywhere else yet but California, Kansas, Arkansas and Kentucky have all talked to me on the phone,” Drezgic said. “I don’t really know a lot about the colleges yet, but I will learn.”

College coaches aren’t permitted to call prospects in the class of 2026 directly until June 15, but relationships have already been forged through school visits and conversations through intermediaries. It’s why five-star guard Ikenna Alozie is already kicking around the idea of visits more than a month before the contact period opens.

“I don't have anything planned yet, but there are a couple schools I know I want to go to,” Alozie said on Friday afternoon. “I want to go to Kansas, Kansas State and UCLA for sure. Probably, well, maybe Houston, too.”

As the No. 9 ranked prospect in the 2026 class, Alozie is a near lock to have his choice of colleges, so reading too much into his recruitment at this juncture would be silly. Still, It’s abundantly clear that a handful of programs have already prioritized the quick and physician guard, who describes himself as “a physical player that loves going to the rim.”

Alozie moved to the United States from Nigeria in 2021 and has quickly become one of the best young guard prospects in the country. His offer list is likely to become crowded quickly once June 15 hits and coaches are allowed to begin buzzing his phone.