Kentucky Lands Milan Momcilovic In Transfer Portal: Wildcats Add Iowa State Sharpshooter
Mark Pope just landed his guy. Milan Momcilovic, the Iowa State forward who has been one of the most coveted scorers in the transfer portal, picked Kentucky on Monday night. The Wildcats are building one of the best transfer classes in the country, and the Momcilovic commitment is the headliner.
Kentucky’s transfer haul is now ranked second nationally, only behind Louisville. That is not where Kentucky usually finishes anything when it comes to recruiting, and it tells you Pope has figured out how to recruit at scale.
Momcilovic is a real get. He is a 6-8 forward who shoots threes at a high clip and can score off the bounce when needed. The kind of player Pope’s offense will use in multiple lineups. He fits as a stretch four. He fits as a small-ball option in switching defenses. He gives Kentucky a piece that can score in the half court when the offense bogs down.
The bigger picture is that Pope has reloaded after losing his top two scorers from 2025-26. Both senior leaders are theoretically out of eligibility, with Otega Oweh committing to Florida via the portal and trying to fight for a fifth year. That is a lot of production walking out the door.
Kentucky has answered with depth. Zoom Diallo, the No. 7-ranked point guard in the 247Sports class, gives them a real lead guard. Alex Wilkins at the combo guard spot is another high-end portal piece. Franck Kepnang from Washington gives them experienced size in the paint for his seventh season of college basketball.
Add Momcilovic to that group and the Wildcats have a starting five that looks like a top-15 team on paper. Throw in four-star freshman Mason Williams, the son of former NBA All-Star Mo Williams, and you have a rotation that can play 10 deep.
Pope deserves credit. His first year had ups and downs. The Wildcats made the tournament. They did not make a deep run. The fanbase was getting impatient. Instead of folding under the pressure, Pope went out and built one of the best portal classes in the country in a sport that increasingly lives and dies by the portal.
This is also a quiet shot across the bow at the SEC. Auburn is going to be a contender. Florida is going to be a contender. Tennessee is going to be a contender. Kentucky was at risk of being the third or fourth-best team in its own conference. The Momcilovic class is the answer to that risk.
Iowa State loses a key piece. T.J. Otzelberger has done masterful work in Ames over the last few years, but losing Momcilovic to the SEC hurts. The Cyclones are going to have to find a replacement either through their own portal recruitment or by developing younger players.
For Kentucky fans, this is the most optimistic the program has felt since John Calipari left. The roster has scoring. The roster has size. The coaching has a clear vision. The transfer portal has been navigated with real strategy.
Now the question becomes whether all of these pieces fit together. Portal teams often look better on paper than they do in March. Pope’s challenge for the next nine months is turning these individual commitments into a basketball team.
Milan Momcilovic is the player who makes it possible. Kentucky basketball is back in the conversation.
A longtime sports reporter, Carlos Garcia has written about some of the biggest and most notable athletic events of the last 5 years. He has been credentialed to cover MLS, NBA and MLB games all over the United States. His work has been published on Fox Sports, Bleacher Report, AOL and the Washington Post.
