Last offseason, Mark Pope got a blank check to build his roster at Kentucky, and with $22 million, he narrowly escaped the first round of the NCAA Tournament before suffering an ugly loss to undermanned Iowa State in the Round of 32.Â
This offseason, it’s Pat Kelsey who has near-unlimited spending power, and with one of Iowa State’s best players, Milan Momcilovic, potentially up for grabs coming out of the NBA pre-draft process, he could deliver a knockout blow to Mark Pope’s parallel tenure in Lexington.Â
The latest reports have indicated that Momcilovic, the leading three-point shooter in the country last season, is expected to withdraw from the NBA Draft by the May 27 deadline. Momcilovic entered the portal before the window closed, so he’ll be free to transfer if he does return to college basketball, and Louisville has reportedly emerged as a front-runner.Â
Louisville and Kentucky could go head-to-head for Milan Momcilovic
For as nice as adding Momcilovic would be for Louisville, Kentucky desperately needs the 6-foot-9 stretch four. Not only did Pope just waste a season in which he neglected to add enough shooting for his motion-heavy perimeter-based offense, but he’s whiffed on multiple big-time targets this offseason, including Tyran Stokes, the No. 1 high school recruit in the country.Â
Only heading into Year 3, there is already major pressure on Pope to begin to compete for SEC and national titles, and his current roster is a long way off from what Florida is bringing back and what Tennessee brought in through the portal. That’s not even to mention Duke, Michigan, and the other likely national contenders, including Louisville, which have significantly more talented rosters.Â
Momcilovic has acknowledged that Kentucky is in the three-way race. If Pope misses out on him to Louisville, or even to St. John’s and Rick Pitino, which is also rumored to be in the mix, it would be time to press the panic button in Lexington. However, if Pope can add Momcilovic, it would begin to cool off one of the hottest seats in college basketball.Â
Milan Momcilovic could put the Cardinals over the top as a title contender
There have been a few times this offseason when it has seemed as though Pat Kelsey had put the final touches on his roster. The Obinna Ekezie Jr. commitment and reclassification felt that way, as did Isaac Ellis’s reclassification. Apparently, though, Kelsey isn’t done, and with the potential to land Momcilovic on the table, he shouldn’t be.Â
Pope’s biggest flaw last offseason was over-indexing on defense and athleticism after his 2024-25 team struggled to withstand the physicality of the SEC. In some ways, Kelsey has done the same thing this offseason.
Louisville could score with just about anyone last year. It could not, however, play championship-caliber defense consistently and was far too beholden to the whims of three-point variance, shooting the long-ball at the fourth-highest rate in the country. So, Kelsey went out and got himself the reigning Big 12 Defensive Player of the Year in Flory Bidunga, added real size around him in the front court with Alvaro Folgueiras, Ekezie, and Gabe Dynes, and punched up his roster’s athleticism with Karter Knox on the wing.Â
Strangely, the biggest looming question with that group is whether or not they can shoot the three consistently enough to make the spacing work when Kelsey goes big, which he’ll need to do against Duke and North Carolina in the ACC.
You know who would answer that question without sacrificing any size? A 6-foot-9 forward who shot 48.7 percent from three on 7.5 attempts per game last season. Dooming Pope in the process would simply be a nice perk.
Add us as a preferred source on Google