- Joined
- May 8, 2002
- Posts
- 1,193,420
- Reaction score
- 59
Things weren't necessarily looking up for Mark Pope and the Kentucky Wildcats with just a few weeks till the NBA Draft.
The program didn't know if it'd get Malachi Moreno, who was surging up draft charts, back, and they likely didn't think that Milan Momcilovic would exit the draft process and choose Kentucky as well. Both of those happened, and the Cats are in a much better position entering next season.
Momcilovic was a huge addition for Pope, and while it certainly couldn't have come at a cheap cost, he was among the best transfer portal options available. He averaged 16.9 points per game for the Iowa State Cyclones last season and is a career 42.8% three-point shooter, a much-needed part of the fast-paced Pope attack. The Cats head coach has lofty ambitions for how many threes his team will take next season.
That said, a huge part of why Momcilovic chose Kentucky was because of the play of Pope's BYU teams. "I think it helped watching Pope's teams at BYU, when we played them at Iowa State..... I loved the way his teams played, " Momcilovic told reporters recently.
While Momcilovic was able to get away with just elite sharpshooting last season because of other talented Iowa State players, he should be primed to take a huge step forward as an all-around playmaker. He was a three-year starter at Iowa State and shot 48.7% from deep this past season.
If Pope truly wants to run and gun, he has a team capable of doing just that. This might be Pope's most talented team yet, so it'll be telling what he can do with Momcilovic, Alex Wilkins, Zoom Diallo and several other quality transfers that will be taking the court in Lexington.
This article originally appeared on UK Wildcats Wire: Mark Pope's BYU Cougars is what won over Milan Momcilovic
Continue reading...
The program didn't know if it'd get Malachi Moreno, who was surging up draft charts, back, and they likely didn't think that Milan Momcilovic would exit the draft process and choose Kentucky as well. Both of those happened, and the Cats are in a much better position entering next season.
Momcilovic was a huge addition for Pope, and while it certainly couldn't have come at a cheap cost, he was among the best transfer portal options available. He averaged 16.9 points per game for the Iowa State Cyclones last season and is a career 42.8% three-point shooter, a much-needed part of the fast-paced Pope attack. The Cats head coach has lofty ambitions for how many threes his team will take next season.
That said, a huge part of why Momcilovic chose Kentucky was because of the play of Pope's BYU teams. "I think it helped watching Pope's teams at BYU, when we played them at Iowa State..... I loved the way his teams played, " Momcilovic told reporters recently.
While Momcilovic was able to get away with just elite sharpshooting last season because of other talented Iowa State players, he should be primed to take a huge step forward as an all-around playmaker. He was a three-year starter at Iowa State and shot 48.7% from deep this past season.
If Pope truly wants to run and gun, he has a team capable of doing just that. This might be Pope's most talented team yet, so it'll be telling what he can do with Momcilovic, Alex Wilkins, Zoom Diallo and several other quality transfers that will be taking the court in Lexington.
This article originally appeared on UK Wildcats Wire: Mark Pope's BYU Cougars is what won over Milan Momcilovic
Continue reading...
