Mark Pope Called Malachi Moreno the Best Center in College Basketball. On Sunday, Moreno Agreed.

Kentucky's roster outlook this spring carried a single sentence in its summary that did most of the work: "13/13 scholarships projected if Moreno returns; 12/13 if Moreno stays in draft." Sunday turned that conditional into a fact. Moreno joins returning veterans Trent Noah, Reece Potter, Braydon Hawthorne, and Kam Williams, plus a six-player portal class — Zoom Diallo (Washington), Alex Wilkins (Furman), Ousmane N'Diaye (Vanoli Cremona, Italy), Justin McBride (James Madison), Kentucky native Jerone Morton (Washington State), and Franck Kepnang (Washington) — alongside a two-player high school class headlined by 4-star point guard Mason Williams.

The meaning of his return isn't only roster-math. It's a 7-foot, 250-pound returning starter in the middle, a player who shot 58.2 percent from the floor as a freshman and blocked 1.5 shots a game, walking back into a frontcourt now built around him. Pope's claim — best center in college basketball — was the kind of thing coaches say when they're trying to manifest something. As of Sunday, he gets to find out if he was right.