At last, the drought is over. Kentucky is again producing high-level basketball talent.

For most of the 21st century, the state of Kentucky’s pipeline of men’s basketball talent production has seemed clogged.

Over the first two decades of the current century, our state produced one star-level NBA player, Rajon Rondo; another good NBA performer, D’Angelo Russell; one massive college star, Chris Lofton; and one very strong class, 2008, which saw three of its members, Scotty Hopson, Shelvin Mack and Darius Miller, all reach the NBA.

Otherwise, our state has, mostly, turned out a lot of very good, mid-major-level college players — which is fine. But it’s a far cry from the 1960s (Wes Unseld, Clem Haskins); 1970s (Jack Givens, Darrell Griffith); and 1980s (Rex Chapman, Allan Houston) when Kentucky routinely produced basketball players whose impact on the game was of national magnitude.

All of which serves as prologue to good news. At long last, it seems like the cycle of basketball talent being produced in the commonwealth has turned toward bounteous.

Consider:

In his freshman year as a Kentucky Wildcat, former North Laurel High School star Reed Sheppard has been one of the best all-around players in college hoops.

All the the 6-foot-3, 187-pound Sheppard has done in his first 12 games as a collegian is average 12.5 points, 4.7 rebounds, 4.3 assists and 2.8 steals — and get the NBA draft geeks to start mentioning him as a potential lottery pick this year.

It appears Sheppard is just the front tip of an emerging vanguard of homegrown hoopers with a chance to play high-major college basketball.

In two games in the prestigious City of Palms Classic in Fort Myers, Florida, before Christmas, Lyon County star Travis Perry averaged 33.5 points and nine rebounds while hitting 25 of 44 shots and 15 of 26 3-pointers.

“No one shot it deeper or played with more IQ and toughness at the City of Palms,” Paul Biancardi, ESPN’s director of basketball recruiting, wrote of Perry on X.

The 6-2, 170-pound Perry, a UK signee, backed that up by winning MVP honors in Lexington Catholic’s White, Greer and Maggard Holiday Classic last week, averaging 27.8 points over four games.

Before casting his allegiance with his home state’s flagship university, Perry weighed scholarship offers from Alabama, Cincinnati, Creighton, Florida, Indiana, Iowa, LSU, Michigan, Mississippi, Missouri, Notre Dame, Ohio State, Purdue, Stanford and Vanderbilt, among others.

Malachi Moreno, the 7-1, 220-pound Great Crossing High School junior, is another Kentucky high school star who raised his national profile with strong play on big stages during the holiday tourney season.

At the King of the Bluegrass tournament at Fairdale, Moreno earned the Bob White MVP Award after averaging 15 points and 13.5 rebounds over four games while leading Great Crossing to the championship.

In the Beach Ball Classic in Myrtle Beach, South Carolina, Moreno produced an Oscar Tshiebwe-style, double double-double with 24 points and 25 boards in a double-overtime loss to Virginia’s Bishop O’Connell.

Alabama, Arkansas, Baylor, Clemson, Creighton, Florida, Indiana, Kentucky, LSU, Michigan, Missouri, North Carolina State, Notre Dame, Ohio State, Penn State, Providence, Purdue, Syracuse, Tennessee, USC and Virginia Tech are among the schools who have offered Moreno.

From the sophomore class has emerged one of this season’s fastest risers. Though a willowy physical presence at 6-1, 160, Newport guard Tay Kinney has spent this season to date producing one staggering individual performance after another.

When Newport snapped the 49-game winning streak of Ohio’s Richmond Heights on Dec. 1, Kinney went for 27 points. In a 58-55 win over Huntington (West Virginia) Prep and its lavishly hyped guard Darryn Peterson on Dec. 15, Kinney had 22 points, nine rebounds and four assists.

Just last week, in the finals of a holiday tourney in Lawrenceburg, Indiana, Kinney exploded for 49 points on 18-of-25 shooting, 7-of-11 treys, in a 79-54 win over Fort Wayne (Ind.) Christian.

Already, Kinney has scholarship offers from Cincinnati, Illinois, Louisville, Notre Dame, Tennessee, Texas A&M and Xavier. Kentucky invited Kinney to Big Blue Madness and is involved in his recruitment, too.

There’s more. Class of 2025 star Jasper Johnson left the state after leading Woodford County to last season’s Sweet Sixteen semifinals to play this year at Missouri’s Link Academy. Nevertheless, the 6-4, 170-pound guard may have the most-impressive offer sheet of any player produced in the commonwealth in this century.

Johnson holds offers from Arizona State, Auburn, Baylor, California, Cincinnati, Florida State, Georgia Tech, Indiana, Kansas, Kentucky, Louisville, LSU, Memphis, Missouri, North Carolina, Texas A&M, USC, West Virginia and Xavier, among others.

Washington County’s Gabe Weis, a 6-6, 170-pound sophomore, already has offers from Cincinnati, Illinois, Iowa, Louisville, Nebraska, Penn State, Texas A&M and West Virginia. Kentucky is keeping tabs on him, as well.

Trinity sophomore Jayden Johnson, a 6-5, 175-pound guard, has offers from Cincinnati, Missouri, Texas A&M and West Virginia — and got an invite to UK’s Big Blue Madness.

Don’t sleep on Harlan County senior Trent Noah, either. The 6-6, 200-pound wing, who signed with South Carolina over Butler, California, Seton Hall, Stanford and UCF, is averaging 28.9 points and 10.6 rebounds this season.

For those basketball fans in Kentucky who like to have some “homegrown” players to follow at the top levels of men’s college hoops, these next few years have the potential to be really fun.

Kentucky’s class of 2025 is a national treasure. Everyone wants in, and the race is on.